Chipotle Stops Serving Pork Because Supplier Mistreated Animals

Image Credit: www.stockmonkeys.com
Image Credit: www.stockmonkeys.com

It was reported this week that Chipotle Mexican Grill stopped serving pork at hundreds of its restaurants, after they found that their supplier may have been treating its animals inhumanely.

Chris Arnold, a spokesman for the Mexican food chain, told the Associated Press that the company learned of the inhumane treatment during a recent audit of suppliers.

According to Chipotle’s policies, all of their suppliers must raise their animals in humane conditions, with regular access to the outside. These guidelines are to avoid suppliers who use factory farming methods. Unfortunately, it was discovered that their pork supplier kept their pigs in tight pens, and were restricted from the outdoors.

It’s hard to say how long it will last. We could fill that shortfall with conventionally raised pork, but the animal welfare standards fall well short of our requirements, and (we) simply aren’t willing to make that compromise,” Arnold told Reuters.

According to experts in the industry, Chipotle may have a hard time finding a supplier that actually does treat its animals humanely, EatLocalGrow pointed out.

Paul Shapiro, vice president of farm animal protection for The Humane Society of the United States, told Mercury News that a very small portion of the industry would actually live up to Chipotle’s standards. However, if more companies did have standards like this, it is quite possible that the market would force some changes in some of the horrific practices witnessed in factory farms.


John Vibes writes for True Activist and is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture and the drug war. 

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