RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Years ago, the fast-food chain Chipotle Mexican Grill made a name for itself by ditching the factory-farmed, antibiotic-laden meat sold at other chains, committing to buying only meat grown without hormones or antibiotics and raised in humane conditions. While none of the restaurants' meat is organic, the 1,100 stores are supplied by socially conscious meat companies like Niman Ranch and Bell and Evans Chicken.

Since it first launched in 1993, the chain has made other moves towards a more sustainable supply chain, sourcing 40 percent of its beans from organic farms and using dairy products free of synthetic growth hormones. This week, Steve Ells, founder and co-CEO, announced that he expects to double Chipotle's volume of local food sales this year, using up to 10 million pounds of local produce from farms within 350 miles of restaurants where it will be served. The process will start with bell peppers, jalapeños, oregano, red onions, and romaine lettuce in most of its locations, plus local lemons, cilantro, and avocados at restaurants in California.

Despite the well-intended efforts, there are downsides to all this good food. In 2006, workers-rights advocates criticized the chain for refusing to sign an agreement to pay an extra penny per pound for tomatoes grown in Florida. The extra penny would have gone to a program set up by the Coalition for Immokalee Workers to ensure that migrant farmworkers in the state earned a living wage (at the time, workers were earning less than $10,000 a year). That dispute has since been settled, and the chain ultimately agreed to the extra penny-per-pound request. But Chipotle has also been called out by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and even by Men's Health's healthy eating guide series Eat This, Not That, for selling 1,000-calorie burritos and other dishes that are weighed down with calories.

Alas, any fast food is far from perfect. But at least if you pile that 13-inch tortilla with local tomatoes and peppers and humanely raised meat, you'll be doing less damage to the planet; leave off the dairy and you won't be hurting your waistline too badly, either.

Read more:

"Largest restaurant seller of naturally raised meat to double 'local' produce volume," Sustainable Food News, June 22, 2011