Under pressure from consumers and lawsuits, restaurant chains are being pushed to disclose the presence of meat or meat-products, even in dishes not described as vegetarian or vegan.
Chains such as Chipotle Mexican Grill and Panda Express are looking at ways to better communicate that certain dishes that don’t appear to contain meat – beans, rice and vegetables, for example – either include meat as a seasoning or may have been cooked in equipment in which meat was also cooked.
Other chains, such as the Souplantations/Sweet Tomatoes chain, are posting signs throughout restaurants specifically indicating which items are vegetarian or vegan, and which are not.
The spotlight was on Chipotle recently after a Maxim senior editor Seth Porges learned that the fast-casual chain cooks its pinto beans with a small amount of bacon. The chain’s black beans are vegetarian, which is indicated on the menu.
After Porges, who reportedly said he avoids pork for religious and cultural reasons, expressed outrage in a series of Tweets, Chipotle officials responded by saying the menu boards would be redesigned to indicate the beans are made with bacon.
Chris Arnold, Chipotle’s communications director, said the chain has always made its pinto beans with bacon and they have never been described as being vegetarian.
“Our black beans are vegetarian and are described that way on our menus and our website,” he said. “Our website clearly and accurately describes the pinto beans as being made with bacon.”
Still, over the next several months, the chain will be rolling out new menu boards on which the bacon-flavored beans will be disclosed, he said.
The issue has also resulted in a lawsuit filed by customer Kevin Shenkman. Filed on Aug. 19 in Los Angeles Superior Court, Shenkman charges false and deceptive business practices and representations, arguing that Chipotle mislead the public into believing its pinto beans were vegetarian.
Shenkman, who describes himself as Jewish and a vegetarian, has reportedly also sued Panda Express for its alleged use of meat-based flavorings in rice.
Panda Express spokeswoman Thien Ho, however, said the rice and vegetable dishes do not contain meat products.
Comments
Post a Commentdisclose or you'll lose business
It is only responsible and respectful for restaurants to make information available to consumers -- and good business.
I stopped eating at Chipotle after learning -- quite by accident -- that their pinto beans have pork fat in them. When I order a vegetarian burrito with pinto beans you damn well better tell me it's not vegetarian! I haven't been to Chipotle for over two years because of this. Not out of spite, but out of a lack of trust for what else they're hiding. That may sound a bit conspiracy theorist crazy, but there are those of us who are eating consciously and the restaurant industry is pathetically behind helping consumers make the best choices based on their needs and wants.
Just like nutritional information, those restaurants that help me make good decisions earn my business. Those that don't, don't. I'm even more passionate about my choices as a vegetarian.
Now I know restaurant operators and most will roll their eyes at this as the lunatic fringe. All I can say to you is that we're not. Our numbers and our voice are both growing. Either become a part of our lives or don't, we're not going to waver just because you think pork fat is needed to make something as great as a pinto bean taste good.