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Burger King sprouts a 'weed' in its plant-based burger patch

August 9, 2019

A new weed has sprung up in the growing field of plant-based burger option, this one focused squarely on Burger King and the plant-based Impossible Whopper it took nationwide as an LTO yesterday. The controversy started last week after Burger President for the Americas Chris Finazzo told Bloomberg the Impossible Whopper was cooked right alongside animal meat on each location's broiler.

That fact makes the meatless Impossible Burger off-limits for strict vegans and others who refrain from animal meat for both religious and other reasons. Burger King said, however, that those who choose can still request that their Impossible Whoppers be cooked separately. But since that was and is not widely known, many expressed their objections online. The brand's parent company, RBI told CNBC the chain does not plan to alter the practice of cooking the Impossible Whoppers on the grill used for meat. 

Other chains that cook meat-free burgers, like White Castle and its Impossible Slider, have established separate grilling procedures for their products to make it vegan-compliant.