Suppose you’re a moral person who doesn’t like torturing animals but is not averse to killing them for food purposes, yet you want to buy fast food. (Quick disclaimer: I am not an omnivore, but I LIKE omnivorous people who want to switch to not eating factory farmed food. If you’re a humane omnivore, I think you’re a lovely, caring person who is taking a stand against the animal abuse that goes on at battery farms. Though I do think veganism+100%-animal-testing-freeism is the absolute least cruel way to live.)

So anyway, if you’re a humane omnivore, should you go to Jack in the Box, McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, etc? Absolutely not. Especially not Kentucky Fried Chicken (warning: highly disturbing website. Do NOT click there if you don’t like seeing those horrific videos).

So, where can you buy fast food? McDonalds is sort of a good choice because it limits its cage-bound egg-laying chickens to cages that must be at least the size of a laptop. Maybe a “good” choice is not the word I should be using. Not the most evil choice you could make? Anyway, I don’t buy anything egg or meat based from McDonalds because I don’t support animal abuse. Burger King or Carl’s Jr are better choices because they also have cage-free eggs. Not that any of the meats they sell are humanely-raised. Appallingly, abusively raised, more likely.

However — your best option by far is Chipotle. They have GREAT vegan options — you can customize any burrito, taco, or salad to be completely vegan — just get the (vegan) black beans instead of the (made with lard/bacon) pinto beans, peppers instead of meat, guacamole and lettuce instead of sour cream and cheese, and you still have a choice of three different kinds of salsa (the spicy one is really, really good. I am completely addicted to it). (I found this great blog that confirms that these Chipotle items are really vegan, — please click here.)

If you’re a vegetarian, while the cheese and sour cream do not come from certified nonfactory farms (Hello Chipotle? Why EVER not?), the cheese is 100% vegetarian — no newborn calves stomachs were chopped up to provide rennet to start this cheese, and the sour cream is from cows not treated with synthetic rGBH hormones. If you’re an ethical omnivore, the pork served at Chipotle is 100% humanely-raised, the chicken is 60%-humanely-raised, and the beef is 40% humanely raised. (I’m not really sure why the chicken and beef aren’t 100%-humanely raised. Hello, Chipotle? Please change this. Along with switching to buying only certified humane sour cream and cheese. Because right now I’m desperately trying to only eat vegan burritos — rice, black beans, peppers, corn, some of all three different salsas (yes!  you can get all three — just ask for them), guacamole and lettuce — and I really, really miss eating sour cream and cheese on those. But I am not going to until those are less inhumanely obtained.)

Chipotle Information on their humane farming practices:

Most pigs do not spend their lives on open pastures, but live in Concentrated Animal Feed Operations, or CAFOs. The conditions in a CAFO are bad, even horrendous. In many ways, they look more like factories than farms. Pigs are crowded so closely with other pigs that they must be given antibiotics from a young age to avoid the spread of infection. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, American pork producers use 10 million pounds of antibiotics per year to keep their confinement raised pigs from getting sick. That’s more than an estimated three times the amount used to treat all human illnesses.
Pigs raised in these “factory farm” conditions, about 95 percent of all of the pigs raised in this country, often don’t even have room to turn around in their crates, let alone experience the outdoors. It’s stressful and inhumane for them, and it’s surely not healthy for us either.
We think there’s a better way to do things.
It’s called old-fashioned animal husbandry, which means farmers rely on care, not chemicals, to tend their animals and their land. Pigs raised in this way are not given antibiotics, and their feed does not contain animal by-products. They are free to roam the pasture, to root in deeply bedded barns, and to socialize with other pigs.
We believe pigs that are cared for in this way enjoy happier, healthier lives and produce the best pork we’ve ever tasted. We call pork produced according to these standards naturally raised, and sourcing it for our restaurants is part of a larger mission we’ve dubbed Food With Integrity, an ongoing quest to source the highest quality food from farmers who care deeply about the welfare of their animals, their land, and their communities.
Since 2001, all of the pork served in our restaurants has been from pigs raised in this humane, ecologically sustainable way. In addition to all of our pork, nearly 60 percent of our chicken and more than 40 percent of our beef is naturally raised. And we’ll continue until all of our meats in all of our restaurants meet this standard.
Once again, naturally raised pork at Chipotle means:
· No antibiotics, ever.
· Letting pigs exhibit their natural behaviors in open pasture or
deeply-bedded pens.
· Vegetarian feed with no animal by-products.

Here are some of our suppliers for naturally raised pork: duBreton (certified raised humane and handled), Niman Ranch (animal welfare approved), Ozark Mountain, and Pioneer Pork (supposedly free farmed certified, though not listed on the American Humane website — I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt and assuming the American Humane association takes a while to update their website). (I’m also giving Ozark Mountain the benefit of the doubt — I didn’t find anything about Ozark Mountain on any humane farming labels — I assume (hope!) the Chipotle people went out and made sure Ozard Mountain does not do any factory farming.)

Tags : chipotle, cruelty free, fast food, humane farming
Categories : cruelty free, humane farming