Chipotle Stops Serving Pork at Hundreds of Locations

By Kara Seymour (Patch Staff) and Caitlyn Fitzpatrick (Patch Staff)

One-third of Chipotle locations will not be serving pork for the time being because the company said a supplier failed to meet its animal welfare standards.

Chipotle promotes “food with integrity” on its website and says that 100 percent of the pigs used for carnitas are never given antibiotics and are fed a vegetarian diet. However, some part of the standards have not been met, which caused the pork elimination.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the outage will impact the entire Delaware Valley region. A total of 600 locations are affected.

Specific restaurants affected by the pork-free decision have not been revealed, however, “no carnitas” signs have already been displayed in places like New York. It is unclear how long pork that did not meet the guidelines was being served to customers.

It was unclear if any Massachusetts locations were affected.

Have you seen a “No carnitas” sign at the Westford Chipotle? Leave a comment below.

“We found a pork supplier that was not meeting our standards, so we have suspended our purchases from this supplier,” Chipotle Mexican Grill Spokesman Chris Arnold told CNNMoney. “We cannot get enough pork that meets our responsibly raised standard for all our restaurants, and we will not be able to serve carnitas in some locations.”

The first Chipotle opened in 1993 in an old ice cream shop in Denver.

Photo credit: Chipotle