Chipotle Mexican Grill now lists which menu items include genetically modified on its website. The chain began posting GM ingredient information in March, according to a report by Bloomberg Businessweek.
Chipotle has been a leader in sustainable practices in the quick service segment, sourcing meat from animals raised without antibiotics, using pasture-raised dairy products and growing its percentage of local produce ingredients. The restaurant announced on Tuesday that it was planning to raise its 2012 goal of sourcing 10 million pounds of local produce to 15 million pounds in 2013.
“We are changing the way people think about and eat fast food,” said Steve Ells, founder, chairman and co-CEO of Chipotle, in a statement about the local sourcing expansion. “That means pushing ourselves to find the best quality ingredients — ingredients that have traditionally been available only in high end restaurants and specialty food markets — and making them available in way that is accessible and affordable.”
The Chipotle website states that the restaurant plans to move away from using any genetically modified ingredients in the future and “recently switched our fryers from soybean oil to sunflower oil” because commercial sunflower oil is GMO-free. For now, though, several menu items use genetically modified ingredients such as steak and tortillas.
