Chipotle JUST Became The First Major Restaurant To Go GMO-Free

As fast food chains are trying to find gimmicky ways to make their food seem cleaner, Chipotle decided not to play games and is now the first restaurant chain to serve all its food without genetically modified organisms.

We saw Carl’s Jr. take a baby step forward when it offered its “All-Natural Burger,” but while some questioned why Carl’s Jr. didn’t just make their whole menu natural, Chipotle went along and did it themselves.

Chipotle now plants its own non-GMO corn and replaced soybean oil with sunflower oil to cook its chips and taco shells. Excluding its tortilla ingredients, Chipotle’s entire menu consists of 46 total ingredients now.

If you’re wondering what’s the big deal with GMOs, it is because food consisting of GMOs are unnaturally altered to make it more affordable, and although it’s been argued that GMOs are safe, people are strongly opposing this method of growing food.

In a press release, Chipotle founder and CEO Steve Ellis said:

“We are changing the way people think about and eat fast food, and that means cooking with the very best ingredients – ingredients that are free of additives – but still serving food that is affordable, convenient, and most importantly delicious.”

However, Chipotle is still trying to find a recipe for its tortillas that doesn’t require artificial additives, as it says it still has some dough conditioners and preservatives. They said it will take some time to find the right tortilla recipe, but it has reduced a lot of the additives in its tortillas. They has been testing a few recipes, but no word on when a tortilla change could come.

Still, we can now eat most of Chipotle’s food with the confidence that its of pretty fresh quality, which is weird to say about fast food.