ARLINGTON, Iowa — A corn, soybean and pork producer from Iowa is firing warning shots across the bow of the mighty fast-food frigate known as Chipotle Mexican Grille, taking the rising franchise to task for what he says are bogus claims that the company has stopped serving food with genetically modified (GMO) ingredients.
Tim Burrack’s comments, recently published by the Truth About Trade and Technology-Global Farming Network and picked up by other publications, came on the heels of a new lawsuit that "could make the chain pay dearly for its outrageous con job," according to the Arlington, Iowa, producer.
"The fast-food chain Chipotle claims to have stopped serving food with GMO ingredients. ‘G-M-Over It,’ boasts the company’s website," commented Burrack, who serves as vice chairman and volunteers as a board member for Truth About Trade.
"Except that this isn’t even close to true. Chipotle depends on GMOs."
Burrack is blunt in his criticism of Chipotle’s anti-GMO marketing strategy, claiming the restaurant lies about science, preys on public ignorance and seeks to create a sense of moral superiority in the minds of its customers.
"That requires Chipotle to condemn both mainstream biotechnology as well as farmers like me, who grow the GMOs that go into Chipotle’s food and drinks. The worst part about this swindle is that GMOs are positively beneficial. These crops allow us to grow more food on less land, in an economically and environmentally sustainable way. They help us fight weeds, pests and drought – and in the future, they’ll help us combat everything from allergies to malnutrition," Burrack opined, continuing:
"Chipotle’s own website reveals that its marketing slogan is nonsense. In corners of its website that most customers will never see, the company confesses that its meat comes from animals that were raised on diets of feed made from GMO crops and that its soft drinks depend on corn syrup, which is almost always made from GMO corn. In other words, Chipotle’s meals are GMO-free, except when they aren’t, which is just about all of the time."
The tenets of Burrack’s assertions are similar to a pending truth-in-advertising lawsuit in California brought by plaintiff Colleen Gallagher that claims Chipotle is lying about the makeup of its food. Her suit, filed in San Francisco in late August, seeks class action status and unspecified damages.
"A Chipotle meal was, and remains, the very definition of a GMO meal," Gallagher’s complaint states.
The power of television and social media anti-GMO smear campaigns are working against production agriculture when it comes to public perception, though the scientific community overwhelmingly supports the use of GMO crops.
Burrack points to a 2015 survey from the Pew Research Center that shows 88 percent of scientists polled feel it is safe to eat GMO foods. The issue facing farmers and other GMO proponents, however, is that only 37 percent of adult American consumers polled concur with the scientists.
This fact makes it easy for Chipotle to launch a "frontal assault on conventional food and the farmers who grow it by implying that GMOs are bad for human health and the environment – and that eating non-GMO food at Chipotle is a socially responsible alternative," according to Burrack, who has written many pro-farming op-ed pieces for Truth About Trade, agricultural media outlets and other media sources.
Chipotle communications director Chris Arnold, responding sparingly to requests for comment on the pending case, told Fortune Magazine in September that the company would vigorously contest the "meritless" claims in the lawsuit.
Arnold said that some of the graphics included in the complaint weren’t created or approved by Chipotle. In addition, advertising indicating that "all" of Chipotle’s food was "non-GMO" was likewise not created by Chipotle, though he defended the language.
Arnold told the magazine that while the meat Chipotle serves is from animals fed GMO grains, "that does not mean that our meat is GMO, any more than people would be genetically modified if they ate GMO grains." The spokesman also defended their advertising regarding soft drinks as accurate because "beverages aren’t food."
Gallagher’s complaint further asserts that Chipotle’s anti-GMO attacks are at the root of higher-than-average prices for food bought from Chipotle compared with other restaurants. Arnold responded to that allegation, telling NPR that Chipotle has always been "honest and transparent" with its customers and "didn’t raise prices because of our move to non-GMO ingredients."
Reached by Farm World, Burrack said his audience is "moms, millennials and opinion leaders – anyone who is listening and thinking about the food debates and still vulnerable to the propaganda put out by Chipotle. Their TV ads and videos are distortions of the real production ag world."
