Chipotle CEO Sounds Off on USDA Natural Meat Standards
Does it strike you as a little disingenuous that meat advertised as "naturally raised" at the supermarket could come from animals raised in a cage, never exercised, and that have possibly never seen the light of day? It does to Steve Ells, CEO of Chipotle -- purveyor of the delicious gut-busting burrito bombs and apparent natural meat crusader. In an op-ed in the Denver Post, Ells says that under the latest standards, factory farms are getting the benefit of calling their meat "naturally raised." Even when it's raised in obviously Par for the course for a government entity, the USDA has been slow to catch up with the now decade-long boom in demand organic and naturally raised foods. Now that there finally is one, it lacks that special something. The USDA's newly-crafted definition for naturally-raised is livestock produced without "growth promotants, antibiotics (except ionophores for parasite control) and have never been fed animal by-products."
While the definition isn't a bad start, Ells thinks that consumers who see the label might think that the animal was allowed semi-natural living conditions. Or at least not kept in a cage. Gee, I wonder why? From the article:
"'Naturally raised' doesn't mean that the animal was raised with access to the outdoors or even the opportunity to exercise. A pig, for example, can still be kept on a tether or confined in a narrow metal cage or pen for its entire life. It could have its tail docked or teeth clipped. None of which is 'natural.'"
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