Chipotle has made it clear they don’t plan on joining other restaurant chains by adding meat substitutes manufactured by Impossible Foods Inc. and Beyond Meat Inc.
Brian Nichol, Chipotle Chief Executive Officer, said the companies’ products are too processed for the burrito chain. He said his company takes pride in serving simple food and a menu that uses only 51 ingredients, adding in an interview:
“We have spoken to those folks and unfortunately it wouldn’t fit in our ‘food with integrity’ principles because of the processing, as I understand it, that it takes to make a plant taste like a burger. If there’s a way for them to do this that would match our ‘food with integrity’ principles, I’m sure we would continue talking with them.”1
Chipotle is currently doing all of its culinary development of new products internally, he added. For vegetarian diners, Chipotle sells sofritas, which is made from tofu.
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Impossible Foods didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown responded by suggesting that meat producers are far worse. He invited Chipotle to visit its factory in Columbia, Missouri. Brown said in an interview:
“You can come to our facility anytime. Don’t call me, just knock on the door. I invite you to do the same with all of Chipotle’s meat-processing facilities. They won’t let you, and if they did, you wouldn’t want to see it. We are about transparency.”1
Processed-food manufacturers have worked overtime to keep up with the demand for foods that are labeled as organic and have more straightforward ingredients. Their popularity is growing, especially among people who who want to reduce their meat consumption but still eat food that tastes like animal-based hamburgers and sausages, with little preservatives. It is unclear whether they’ve given other vegan and vegatarian options a real try.
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Both Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods use ingredients that come from processed plant-based ingredients. Impossible Foods uses genetically modified soy and “heme” which is the ingredient that gives the burgers their meatiness, made from yeast that has also been genetically modified.
What do you think? There are several thought-provoking aspects when you take a closer look.
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