U.S. pulse growers are excited about the latest announcement from McDonald’s.
The fast food giant created some buzz last week when it announced it would start selling a plant-based burger.
McDonald’s has worked with Beyond Meat to create McPlant, a new plant-based, meatless menu item for its customers, and one of the main ingredients is peas. USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council CEO Tim McGreevy says that the McPlant burger is excellent news for pulse growers.
“McDonald’s is not just in the U.S. McDonald’s is all over the world. They are huge. So, they’re working with the Beyond Meat Company to come up with their formulation of their new McPlant burger,” McGreevy states. “The Beyond Meat folks, who we certainly know and love, they use a lot of pulse crops and particularly a lot of peas. So, this is really good news for the producers of peas, lentils, chickpeas, and dried beans.”
He says that even though plant-based protein has the attention of beef and cattle producers, the pulse industry is not looking at replacing animal protein, but instead helping pulse growers increase their profitability by taking advantage of this trend.
“We’re not going to replace the cattle industry or animal protein consumption. I raise grass fed beef myself. There is the demand. We’re going to see maybe some decline, maybe not a lot, but some decline in meat consumption in this country but while it’s expanding overseas,” he adds. “So, there’s a need for protein. This is about protein and also about having a well-balanced and healthy diet which includes all types of protein products, including plant protein, and right now, our star is rising. It’s good for agriculture and it’s good for the health of the citizens of this country.”
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