Chipotle Has Jumped the Shark

[xBiffx]

You are missing one vital statistic for your opinion. The masses are idiots. Factor that in and get back to us

Well not missing, just underestimating them it appears. I tend to do that sometimes with idiots. My bad.

 

[JockoJohnson]

You are missing one vital statistic for your opinion. The masses are idiots. Factor that in and get back to us

This. When I was younger, I was confused as to why people would by products based off of commercials that had nothing to do with the product. Later on I realized that marketing teams know that America is full of a bunch of dumbasses. It is very easy to manipulate the masses.

 

[fskimospy]

This. When I was younger, I was confused as to why people would by products based off of commercials that had nothing to do with the product. Later on I realized that marketing teams know that America is full of a bunch of dumbasses. It is very easy to manipulate the masses.

I would generally say some humility is in order when trying to figure out if marketing works on you or not. Chances are in some ways it does. We all like to think we're too smart to be affected by that bullshit but we probably are and don't even know it.

 

[Subyman]

Seems like a smart move on their part. From what I read in the article they claim only a small percentage of their ingredients are impacted by this, so it could be a case where it costs them little to do and they get a big PR benefit.

I 100% agree that the anti-GMO movement is bullshit, but that doesn't mean they aren't making a smart move here.

My main concern is secondary to GMOs being used. I don't believe they have any type of health effect or are dangerous in and of themselves. My issue is the reduction in food choice. GMOs are specifically engineered for profitability above all else, taste be damned. Because GMOs are specifically engineered, it takes thousands of man hours and millions of dollars to develop and produce one type of seed. For this reason, variety is immensely limited.

Those seeds then flood the market and are, by their very nature, cheaper to sow, harvest, and ship to the store. Sweet corn from walmart tastes like garbage, sweet corn out of my neighbor's garden is heaven. It is sad to not have the food choice nor the quality that people used to have.

Another side effect is crop susceptibility to disease. With only a few number of seeds available, there has been concern for one disease for that one type of plant to wipe out a massive quantity of our agricultural production. That is, of course, a doomsday scenario that isn't likely to happen but it does open us up to risk.

For me though, it is mainly taste and the concern for food variety in the future. Without the small time mills like Anson Mills in the south keeping certain heirloom varieties alive, we would only have really bland tasting factory produce. Have you guys tried a tomato from the grocery recently? Tragic!

 

[fskimospy]

My main concern is secondary to GMOs being used. I don't believe they have any type of health effect or are dangerous in and of themselves. My issue is the reduction in food choice. GMOs are specifically engineered for profitability above all else, taste be damned. Because GMOs are specifically engineered, it takes thousands of man hours and millions of dollars to develop and produce one type of seed. For this reason, variety is immensely limited.

Those seeds then flood the market and are, by their very nature, cheaper to sow, harvest, and ship to the store. Sweet corn from walmart tastes like garbage, sweet corn out of my neighbor's garden is heaven. It is sad to not have the food choice nor the quality that people used to have.

Another side effect is crop susceptibility to disease. With only a few number of seeds available, there has been concern for one disease for that one type of plant to wipe out a massive quantity of our agricultural production. That is, of course, a doomsday scenario that isn't likely to happen but it does open us up to risk.

For me though, it is mainly taste and the concern for food variety in the future. Without the small time mills like Anson Mills in the south keeping certain heirloom varieties alive, we would only have really bland tasting factory produce. Have you guys tried a tomato from the grocery recently? Tragic!

I would agree about the crappy taste of a lot of produce. We can get decent tomatoes in NYC at various farmers markets in the summer and they are amazing. (my family used to grow our own back in PA when I was growing up too) All you need to do is slice them up, put on a little pepper and maybe a little vinegar... the best.

 

[xBiffx]

My main concern is secondary to GMOs being used. I don't believe they have any type of health effect or are dangerous in and of themselves. My issue is the reduction in food choice. GMOs are specifically engineered for profitability above all else, taste be damned. Because GMOs are specifically engineered, it takes thousands of man hours and millions of dollars to develop and produce one type of seed. For this reason, variety is immensely limited.

Those seeds then flood the market and are, by their very nature, cheaper to sow, harvest, and ship to the store. Sweet corn from walmart tastes like garbage, sweet corn out of my neighbor's garden is heaven. It is sad to not have the food choice nor the quality that people used to have.

Another side effect is crop susceptibility to disease. With only a few number of seeds available, there has been concern for one disease for that one type of plant to wipe out a massive quantity of our agricultural production. That is, of course, a doomsday scenario that isn't likely to happen but it does open us up to risk.

For me though, it is mainly taste and the concern for food variety in the future. Without the small time mills like Anson Mills in the south keeping certain heirloom varieties alive, we would only have really bland tasting factory produce. Have you guys tried a tomato from the grocery recently? Tragic!

Do you know of any other GMO produce besides the Walmart corn that you can buy at the grocery store?

Your conclusions seem to be based off of severely limited data. Walmart corn taste like crap so therefore its because of GMO and GMO produce tastes like crap appears to be your conclusion. You ever stop to think of the possibility that the corn you got was just not great tasting that day? Happens all the time here, and I live in Iowa so there's plenty of corn to go around.

And why would GMOs, most which are specifically engineered for disease resistance, be anymore susceptible in your little disease scenario? If a disease affects a certain crop, generally speaking, it can affect that entire crop.

 

[Subyman]

Do you know of any other GMO produce besides the Walmart corn that you can buy at the grocery store?

Your conclusions seem to be based off of severely limited data. Walmart corn taste like crap so therefore its because of GMO and GMO produce tastes like crap appears to be your conclusion. You ever stop to think of the possibility that the corn you got was just not great tasting that day? Happens all the time here, and I live in Iowa so there's plenty of corn to go around.

And why would GMOs, most which are specifically engineered for disease resistance, be anymore susceptible to your little disease scenario? If a disease affects a certain crop, generally speaking, it affects that entire crop, GMO or no GMO.

Walmart corn was one example. Not the extent of my knowledge. Do you really believe the only GMO food I have ever tasted and compared is walmart corn? Come on now, debate my points don't try to weasel an argument out of tiny stuff like that.

And engineered for disease resistance? Sure, so is the same with our antibiotics, but those pesky little buggers always seem to find a way around them. Put all your production behind a very limited number of seeds and it exposes us to disease. I guess we need to put our faith into the profiteering engineers. I'm certainly not saying it will happen, it is a cursory effect of having engineered seeds. We simply can not have the variety that we do in nature.

 

[Subyman]

I would agree about the crappy taste of a lot of produce. We can get decent tomatoes in NYC at various farmers markets in the summer and they are amazing. (my family used to grow our own back in PA when I was growing up too) All you need to do is slice them up, put on a little pepper and maybe a little vinegar... the best.

My neighbor also grows the best tomatoes. Wow. So red and juicy. I slice them with a little salt and pepper. I'll need to try your vinegar trick this summer. :thumbsup:

 

[xBiffx]

Walmart corn was one example. Not the extent of my knowledge. Do you really believe the only GMO food I have ever tasted and compared is walmart corn? Come on now, debate my points don't try to weasel an argument out of tiny stuff like that.

And engineered for disease resistance? Sure, so is the same with our antibiotics, but those pesky little buggers always seem to find a way around them. Put all your production behind a very limited number of seeds and it exposes us to disease. I guess we need to put our faith into the profiteering engineers. I'm certainly not saying it will happen, it is a cursory effect of having engineered seeds. We simply can not have the variety that we do in nature.

What other GMO produce have you tasted? Answer my question please.

Again, why would GMO be more susceptible to disease? You stated that GMO's are somehow adding to disease susceptibility. Please back that claim up.

 

[drebo]

While I don't agree with Chipotle pandering to idiots, I will fight my hardest for their right to be able to do so.

People who are scared of GMOs for any reason are idiots. We live in a world of scarcity. Anything that we can do to make the limited resources we have last longer is a good idea, so long as the cost of doing so doesn't make the hardship worse.

There are so many people with not enough to eat. If we can increase our food production by even 5 or 10% for no extra cost and with no negative health effect, why the fuck shouldn't we?

 

[drebo]

Again, why would GMO be more susceptible to disease? You stated that GMO's are somehow adding to disease susceptibility. Please back that claim up.

I think that's based on the perception that there would be a lack of genetic diversity.

I don't know how much of a concern that is, though, given most commercial farmers don't plant from seed crop anymore.

 

[xBiffx]

I think that's based on the perception that there would be a lack of genetic diversity.

I don't know how much of a concern that is, though, given most commercial farmers don't plant from seed crop anymore.

Even if that were the case, which it isn't. How could lack of genetic diversity be a negative when trying to protect or worry about protecting a crop from disease? People really need to think about that one.

 

[Brainonska511]

I think that's based on the perception that there would be a lack of genetic diversity.

I don't know how much of a concern that is, though, given most commercial farmers don't plant from seed crop anymore.

Any farmer that's been growing a hybrid crop won't be saving seeds. The offspring of hybrid plants generally have worse characteristics compared to the parent.

And there are many varieties of corn available, so it isn't so much of a diversity thing. Round-up ready and bt traits are simply patented and can be incorporated into many varieties of corn (as it currently is), or other commodities.

The bigger worry is if you legitimately have a monoculture, like bananas, and a disease arises which can wipe them out (like the one that's currently making its way from Asia to other banana fields afar). We could fight these problems by identifying traits in other bananas that are resistant, but may not have favorable consumer or producer properties, and splice them in with surgical precision. But the ignoramuses will start screaming about GMOs if we did it that way.

There are some orange trees that have a few spliced-in spinach genes that makes them resistant to citrus greening (a bacterial infection affecting citrus trees in the US). The producers would love them, but the orange juice industry is hesitant because of fears over the public outcry, especially from the loud, anti-science, anti-GMO minority.

 

[Subyman]

What other GMO produce have you tasted? Answer my question please.

Again, why would GMO be more susceptible to disease? You stated that GMO's are somehow adding to disease susceptibility. Please back that claim up.

You are serious? I need to explain why heirloom produce tastes better than some GMOs? I can't believe you are still going down that path. It is generally accepted. Move along. If you'd like, taste any produce out of Kroger/Walmart/Publix/etc that isn't locally sourced and then compare it to anything in a typical family garden or the farmer's market. I live in Southern IL and own farm leases, LOL I know my produce

As another poster pointed out and I've already said, lower number of diversity in the agriculture system means a single failure point could wipe out an entire harvest cycle. Its a risk analysis issue. We used to plant hundreds of types of corn. If one type happened to be susceptible to disease that year, then it didn't really matter as a whole because there were hundreds of other types that made it through the harvest season. Now we only have a few varieties of corn, so if one type happens to be susceptible to disease that year then it could have the potential to wipe out a vast majority of the corn yield that year. We open ourselves up to risk when we plant only a few types.

 

[xBiffx]

You are serious? I need to explain why heirloom produce tastes better than some GMOs? I can't believe you are still going down that path. It is generally accepted. Move along. If you'd like, taste any produce out of Kroger/Walmart/Publix/etc that isn't locally sourced and then compare it to anything in a typical family garden or the farmer's market. I live in Southern IL and own farm leases, LOL I know my produce

As another poster pointed out and I've already said, lower number of diversity in the agriculture system means a single failure point could wipe out an entire harvest cycle. Its a risk analysis issue. We used to plant hundreds of types of corn. If one type happened to be susceptible to disease that year, then it didn't really matter as a whole because there were hundreds of other types that made it through the harvest season. Now we only have a few varieties of corn, so if one type happens to be susceptible to disease that year then it could have the potential to wipe out a vast majority of the corn yield that year. We open ourselves up to risk when we plant only a few types.

So you aren't going to answer my question? Is it because you can't? I already know the answer, I'm just trying to give you an opportunity to fess up here. By the way, I used to live in Southern IL and still own a house there. Still doesn't answer my question.

So if everyone was engineered to have blue eyes, does that automatically mean that we aren't genetically diverse? Does that make us more susceptible to disease?

Again, an entire crop can be susceptible to a disease. If we have many types of corn, there are many more things to consider. If we use your example, now we don't have to worry about the disease that happens to somehow only affect a particular type of GMO corn. No, now we have to worry about every single disease that could affect any type of corn, everywhere. How is that better?

 

[chucky2]

Who gives a shit, their food is loaded with salt. People can now be excited to go get some Saltotle, awesome...

 

[JockoJohnson]

I would generally say some humility is in order when trying to figure out if marketing works on you or not. Chances are in some ways it does. We all like to think we're too smart to be affected by that bullshit but we probably are and don't even know it.

Of course. There are actually products advertised that I do find interest in. But I am pointing to the commercials that don't even discuss the particular product...it works so I can't dismiss it.

 

[JockoJohnson]

My neighbor also grows the best tomatoes. Wow. So red and juicy. I slice them with a little salt and pepper. I'll need to try your vinegar trick this summer. :thumbsup:

Balsamic vinegar is nice with tomatoes too --- non-GMO of course

 

[Moonbeam]

ROFL. Thanks for the information. All I can do is point and laugh at those customers. smh

And all I can do as one of their new and appreciative customers is laugh and say fuck you. You are such a stupid low grade ass. You know nothing about the placebo effect. I believe that superior quality food, for which I pay additional money confirming my beliefs in reality actions, will provide me with the kind of quality nutrition that will cause me to live forever, and because of the depth of my belief and my absolute and proven conviction, it will happen exactly as I say. You poor poor rational bastards with your charts and your numbers that say GMO is safe are totally ignorant of the powers of the mind.

Did you know there was once a young doctor who cured an incurable disease, that's right, a disease for which there is no cure, and documented every step of the process for all of medicine to see, simply and for no other reason than that he was sure he could. Did you know there are things undreamt of in your philosophy.

I want you to count backward from ten and settle into a deep state of relaxation. Dismiss all thoughts that you were called an asshole. Just let it go. Now repeat to yourself over and over forever that non GMO food will make you feel good, better than you have ever felt. Now off you go to Whole Foods Market for your next non GMO orgy.

 

[Moonbeam]

I would generally say some humility is in order when trying to figure out if marketing works on you or not. Chances are in some ways it does. We all like to think we're too smart to be affected by that bullshit but we probably are and don't even know it.

You are smarter than the average Yogi. The benefits of humility have never been exhausted.

 

[ivwshane]

The problem with GMO is unintended consequences. Those consequences could be health side effects or they could be something like a loss of flavor.

I found this story to be a good read and it reminded me of other foods that have been modified that I used to love to eat but seem to have lost their flavor (corn on the cob for example).

http://nypost.com/2015/04/26/why-nothing-especially-chicken-tastes-like-it-used-to/

 

[Brainonska511]

The problem with GMO is unintended consequences. Those consequences could be health side effects or they could be something like a loss of flavor.

I found this story to be a good read and it reminded me of other foods that have been modified that I used to love to eat but seem to have lost their flavor (corn on the cob for example).

http://nypost.com/2015/04/26/why-nothing-especially-chicken-tastes-like-it-used-to/

And what unintended side effects have arisen in the 20 years have appeared? The precautionary principle is nice, but people are using it as a club and no scientific evidence to support their anti-biotech position.

 

[ivwshane]

And what unintended side effects have arisen in the 20 years have appeared? The precautionary principle is nice, but people are using it as a club and no scientific evidence to support their anti-biotech position.

Are you aware of a scientific process that can determine taste?

 

[Brainonska511]

Are you aware of a scientific process that can determine taste?

And what GMOs have caused a loss in taste? The only ones readily available to consumers are corn and papaya.

Producers have been breeding for visual appeal for years. That means they need to survive transit to the store and have a nice appearance. That's what the consumers have demanded and that's the nature of the current system. That has almost nothing to do with GMOs.

If anything, GMOs could help in this regard - if the regulatory barriers weren't so high (and smaller players could more easily bring traits to the market), you might see a push for more consumer-oriented GMO traits instead of only producer-oriented ones.

 

[xBiffx]

And what GMOs have caused a loss in taste? The only ones readily available to consumers are corn and papaya.

There are a few varieties of squash but that completes the list.

Maybe now Subyman will understand what I was getting at. I had hoped he would come clean first. You ruined that...for him.