McDonald's started testing out a plant-based burger this week featuring Beyond Meat.

The burger is being sold at select locations in Ontario.

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor in Food Distribution and Policy at Dalhousie University.

"I do think that McDonald's is just hedging proteins against proteins, looking at options," he said. "It was a bit surprising but I've been talking to some people in the food industry and I know since last summer it was just a question of time. We've seen Burger King, Subway, obviously Tim Hortons as well, different chains committing one way or another but we didn't hear from McDonald's other than the campaign that they were running over the summer being very pro-beef."

McDonald's Plant-Lettuce-Tomato (PLT) sandwich is being served at 28 restaurants in southwestern Ontario.

"I don't think they're walking away from beef, but at the same time they want to explore options," commented Charlebois. "Back in 2003, they did release a veggie burger which was really terrible. It was not a very good product, it was unsuccessful commercially, but now they're in partnership with Beyond Meat which is now a well known brand. What's also interesting for Canadians, is that Canada is McDonald's global test lab."

Charlebois adds that if A&W is seen as a disrupter in food service, McDonald’s could become the exclamation mark in an era of protein plurality.

The McDonald's pilot project will last 12 weeks.

 

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