Current Cattle Market Daily Headlines for Friday, July 24, 2020

Mackenzie Johnston

6 years ago

Burger King wins dismissal of vegans’ lawsuit over Impossible Whopper

On Monday, a federal judge in Florida dismissed a lawsuit against Burger King accusing the fast food chain of deceiving vegan, vegetarian, and other customers into thinking it cooked Impossible Whopper patties on a different grill than the one used to cook beef and chicken.
S. District Judge Raag Singhal said the seven plaintiffs did not show that reasonable consumers were deceived into paying higher prices because of Burger King’s actual cooking methods.
- He said that the plaintiffs did not ask about Burger King’s cooking methods or request that their food be cooked an alternative way to satisfy their diet restrictions.
- He went on to say that the company’s advertising never promised the Impossible Whopper would be cooked on a different surface from beef and chicken.

Last week, Burger King debuted it’s latest commercial touting the use of lemongrass in cows’ diets to reduce methane emissions by “up to 33 percent.”
Frank Mitloehner, University of California-Davis air quality Extension specialist, department of animal science, said it is good that Burger King wants to reduce methane and their environmental impact. Nonetheless, much of the information included in the commercial was false.
- Mitloehner set the record straight on AgritTalk with Chip Flory reminding folks that U.S. beef production contributes 3 percent of all greenhouse gases, while fossil fuel use and production contribute 80 percent of greenhouse gas to the environment. He also sent out a tweet that included facts.
- He said that Burger King’s messaging was premature as there have only been two cited studies regarding lemongrass.
  - One study by UC Davis was inconclusive.
  - Another was conducted at the Autonomous University of Mexico, and has yet to be published.
- After seeing Mitloehner’s response to their commercial, Burger King reached out to him.
  - Mitloehner educated Burger King on the facts and they took content out of their commercial that was demeaning to farmers. They also pulled the content from all TV stations.
- Burger King will be working with Mitloehner in the future to infuse science-based research and to make sure their facts are correct before their ads are released.