--- title: "McDonald’s Exec: “We’re Keeping Our Eye” on Meatless Burgers" description: "The iconic hamburger chain McDonald's could start serving up high-tech meatless burgers alongside its Big Macs and Chicken McNuggets. " date: "2018-12-16" modified: "2018-12-16" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/mcdonalds-exec-meatless-burgers" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "fake meat" - "impossible burger" - "McDonald's" - "white castle" --- # McDonald’s Exec: “We’re Keeping Our Eye” on Meatless Burgers ![The iconic hamburger chain McDonald's could start serving up high-tech meatless burgers alongside its Big Macs and Chicken McNuggets. ]() *\Image: Impossible Foods\* ## McProtein The iconic hamburger chain McDonald's could start serving up high-tech meatless burgers alongside its Big Macs and Chicken McNuggets. That's [according to Lucy Brady](), the fast food giant's senior vice president of corporate strategy, during *Fortune*'s Most Powerful Women Next Gen Summit in California this week. In reference to high-tech meatless patties like the Impossible Burger, Brady said that "plant-based protein is something we’re keeping our eye on." ## Impossible Burger It's not clear whether the burger chain would spring for an off-the-shelf vegetarian burger, like those made by Impossible Foods, or develop its own in-house. With the fast food market's race-to-the-bottom pricing, a home brew option would probably be attractive: an Impossible Burger patty [typically retails]() for about three dollars. If it did add a meatless burger to the menu, McDonald's wouldn't be the first fast food chain to experiment with vegetarian cuisine. Burger King has [offered a MorningStar Farms veggie burger]() for years, and White Castle debuted an Impossible-branded slider this year that *Eater* [hailed as]() "one of America's best fast-food burgers." ## Fake Meat Important to note: though the terminology is still evolving, meat substitutes like those made by Impossible and MorningStar are still "fake meat" — typically based on hearty proteins like soy, gluten, or pea — rather than lab-grown. The latter, which is grown from cells harvested from a real animal, could be the real game-changer from a consumer point of view — and [some producers have teased]() releasing it for sale by 2019. But don't expect to see it on a fast food menu soon: though the cost per ounce has [fallen precipitously]() since the first lab-grown meats were developed several years ago, their price point is still substantially higher than conventionally-farmed meat. **READ MORE:** [McDonald’s and Instacart Executives Talk Competition, Data, and Keeping French Fries Warm]() \[*Fortune*\] ***More on fake meat: [This Is the Biggest Thanksgiving Ever for Fake Meat]()*** ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()