Chipotle serves, “food with integrity.” This means that Chipotle uses only meat where the animals were raised humanely without any antibiotics or added hormones, serves non GMO organisms (flora and fauna), and without artificial preservatives. When Chipotle became popular in my hometown (they built one right near my high school), it became the place where everybody would go together after high school, on dates, or for a casual weekend meal. People began to consume food choices that were healthier and organic rather than inhumanely raised or GMO. Eating from places like Chipotle where meat was humanely raised became a social norm. Chipotle’s advertisement of healthier meat changed how people from my high school began to view food and the choices they made in eating their food, especially when it came to foods coming from factory farms. The awareness that Chipotle spread about livestock influenced the way people at my school ate, and Chipotle became a place where people could trust their food and know exactly what they were putting into their bodies.
A societal issue that connects to this social norm is how livestock is raised. There is a documentary I have watched called Food Inc. that exposes how animals are raised in factory farms. This is why I think it is so important to eat at restaurants such as Chipotle where the animals are not abused and inhumanely slaughtered. The animals are often raised in tightly crowded cages, given feed that makes them sick, and given antibiotics and without enrichments. The meat that comes from factory farms are often contaminated due to mass and careless production, thus affecting our health when we consume these meat. Therefore, the social norm should be to purchase and consume only organic and humanely raised meat. If people were to make themselves aware of which companies use factory farms, such as Tyson, or become aware of how a company raises food before financially supporting them by purchasing from that company, factory farms might cease to exist. This social norm would create a positive health movement and promote environmental friendly farms.
