Don't panic about reports that climate change could threaten guacamole at Chipotle.
Emily Atkin at ThinkProgress.org noted Tuesday that the company's latest annual report discloses that guacamole and salsas could become too expensive for the company to sell if climate change starts to affect certain crops.
But people are misunderstanding the report — and the company assures us that guacamole is not going away anytime soon.
"This is strictly routine 'risk factor' language as part of the annual financial disclosure," a Chipotle spokesman told us in an email.
Chipotle notes climate change as one of the "risks related to operating in the restaurant industry"in the report, which is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Risks like labor costs, food-borne illnesses, and competition from other businesses are also mentioned by Chipotle. Public companies are legally required to disclose these risks in SEC reports.
In other words, this would be like writing a story saying that eating Chipotle could give you food poisoning.
Here's what Chipotle had to say about climate change in the report:
“Increasing weather volatility or other long-term changes in global weather patterns, including any changes associated with global climate change, could have a significant impact on the price or availability of some of our ingredients. In the event of cost increases with respect to one or more of our raw ingredients we may choose to temporarily suspend serving menu items, such as guacamole or one or more of our salsas, rather than paying the increased cost for the ingredients.”
The company temporarily suspended selling antibiotic-free steak in some restaurants restaurants earlier this year because of a shortage.
SEE ALSO: McDonald's Has Resorted To 'Chicken Wing Clearance' To Sell Mighty Wings
Want to read more stories like this? Follow Business Insider On Pinterest