Artificial meat leaves McDonald’s customers cold

Joe Erlinger, head of the company’s US division, said that the McPlant burger failed tests in San Francisco and Dallas, so they won’t be on restaurant menus anytime soon. In Europe, vegan versions fared slightly better.

According to the Hungarian government’s plans, they want to prevent the rise of artificial meat, saying that these products can be problematic and that the traditional meat industry must be helped. A draft law that would ban the production and distribution of artificial meat in Hungary has already appeared on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture. According to the justification of the legislation, this is necessary for the protection of human health and the environment, as well as for the sustainable production of agriculture and the protection of the traditional rural way of life.

Artificial meat is appearing in more and more places on the global market as an alternative, which is supported by environmentalists and supporters of healthy nutrition. According to Darren Tristano, CEO of the food industry consulting firm Foodservice Result, however, the majority of people who go to fast food restaurants choose these places not because they want to protect the planet or their health, but because they are looking for familiar tastes at relatively low prices.

Danilo Gargiulo, an analyst at asset management firm AB Bernstein, pointed out that while McDonald’s has been able to introduce new products over the years, such as coffee and chicken bites, the introduction of artificial meats has been particularly challenging for the company. Beyond Meat, which supplied McPlant’s meat base, is trying to reduce the costs of its products by restructuring, but consumer reception remains subdued.