Sophia D’Aguiar recently wrote a blogpost commenting on Chipotle previously being in the news about dropping a pork vendor after finding out the supplier failed to keep up with Chipotle’s “high” standards for animal welfare. Chipotle boasts about having “responsibly” raised standards for their pork, in which pigs are raised with access to the outdoors or deeply bedded barns without the use of antibiotics. As a result, 1/3 of Chipotle’s outlets stopped serving pork for a couple months, but this “carnitas crisis” has now been resolved.
Sophia commented on this news story stating, “with customers becoming increasingly aware of animal-welfare and increasingly interested in which of their favorite restaurants respect the animals, it is important for companies like Chipotle to maintain a strict policy.” Personally, I feel that it is incorrect to say that companies such as Chipotle “respect” the animals. If you respect animals, you simply would not eat them. What difference does it really make to the animals if they are going to be killed anyways? Yes, it makes a difference to the quality of the pork that humans consume, but it does not make a difference to the wellbeing of the creatures. Chipotle states on their website that they have the standards they have and do what they do “for the animals”. This statement is completely contradictory as they are simply doing nothing for the animals, they are slaughtering them.
I have to agree that this is a step up in comparison to the way animals are treated in other fast food industries, but still in my opinion does not have anything to do with the respect of animals.
External sources:
http://blogs.ubc.ca/sdaguiar/2015/10/04/chipotle-and-the-fight-to-maintain-ethical-standards/
http://fortune.com/2015/09/28/chipotle-carnitasreturn/
http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/14/news/companies/chipotlecarnitas-pork/index.html?iid=EL