Chipotle, Tyson and Pepsi Make Major Changes To Ingredients

The food supply is going through a lot of changes now and you as a consumer are driving it.

Chipotle removing GMOs from the supply chain

As of this week, Chipotle has gone 100% GMO free in all the food it serves. They are the first major restaurant chain to do so.

While Europeans are generally more tolerant of GMOs (genetically modified organisms), Americans have been up in arms about them. There’s been a real debate among scientists about if we should worry about GMOs or not. Some folks argue GMOS offer a safe food option to feed a growing world population. But consumers have decided that GMOs are bad.

A lot of organic sellers have had a difficult time trying to make sure items in their supply chain are GMO free. They have to constantly be on top of sourcing. So Chipotle is hoping their no GMO stance will be a distinguisher in the crowded quick serve marketplace.

Restaurants, processors commit to antibiotic-free chicken

The GMO move by Chipotle was immediate. But there are a couple of restaurants and food processors who are making moves to remove most antibiotics from their poultry, though it will take a couple of years.

Panera Bread and Chipotle kicked off the rush to go antibiotic-free with chicken. Then last year, Chik fil A promised to phase out antibiotics from their chicken within 5 years. Now in succession, one competitor and one processor after another has followed suit.

We recently had McDonalds announce a 2-year horizon for antibiotic-free chicken. Now major poultry processor Tyson is the latest to do so. Tyson plans to get rid of most of the drugs in its flocks by 2017.

Pepsi realizes you are what you…drink

People have become much more focused on food supply. The idea that ‘you are what you eat’ is really coming back into vogue again.

I was at Milken Institute and heard a talk about how what we eat is key to what happens with our genetic makeup. We have a certain makeup by birth, but then what happens in our lifetime is really shaped by environment and the food we eat.

So you’ll hear more and more about the food supply and the impact it has on your long-term health. It’s exactly why Pepsi is removing aspartame from diet Pepsi on the heels of declining sales. Now, understand this: There’s no direct scientific evidence showing aspartame is bad for you. But it has lost in the court of public opinion among consumers.

I happen to be a drinker of diet soft drinks. I happen to like the taste of aspartame too. So Pepsi is going to replace it in diet Pepsi with sucralose. The thing is, I hate the taste of sucralose!

A lot of people would say just drink water. And I do. I have a 24-ounce Contigo water bottle from Costco and I drink filtered water — which is as close to tap as I can get — in addition to my dangerous-for-me diet drinks!