Food Professor Examines Relationship Between McDonald's & Beyond Meat

It appears that McDonald's could be moving ahead with its McPlant product lineup without Beyond Meat.

 

The plant-based meat alternative products will be rolled out by McDonald's in 2021. There is some question as to whether or not the two companies will continue to work together.

 

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is a food professor at Dalhousie University.

 

He believes Beyond Meat has hurt itself by encouraging consumers to ditch real meat.

 

"People who actually like Canadian beef will continue to like Canadian beef," he said. "The issue here is about inclusiveness, it's about flexibility as well. Sometimes people do want to try something else and by saying that this plant-based alternative can replace other options that may actually be seen as less environmentally friendly or less healthy, can be seen as insulting for consumers and farmers as well."

 

McDonald's and Beyond Meat teamed up in late 2019 with the Plant, Lettuce, Tomatoes (PLT) sandwich, running a pilot program in southern Ontario.

 

Charlebois says McDonald's is one of agriculture's greatest ambassadors, promoting Canadian commodities quite well over the years.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.