It’s a McSad day for meat-free Macca’s fans as the burger chain admits defeat with its plant-based patties. 

The McPlant was market tested in both San Francisco and Dallas where, as president of McDonald’s US Joe Erlinger bluntly put it, “It was not successful” but that the company would be monitoring the plant-based meat trend closely for potential trials. The announcement came during a discussion at Wall Street Journal’s Global Food Forum in Chicago yesterday.

The McPlant patties and nuggets were an optimistic partnership between McDonald’s US and Beyond Meat but ultimately, consumers aren’t going to Macca’s for vegetables (unless, of course, they’re fried potatoes). Fair.

Unlike Australian McDonald’s, stores in the US don’t even have side salads anymore due to a lack of demand. Erlinger conceded that if people “really want salads from McDonald’s, we will gladly relaunch salads,” at which point we assume he rolled his eyes and held back a chuckle.

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To be fair, it’s sort of refreshing that the mega-chain isn’t even pretending to be healthy anymore. No one is going to McDonald’s to meet their daily two-and-five.

On the other side of the pond, however, it’s full steam ahead for vegetarian and vegan customers. McDonald’s UK has just launched two new dairy-free ice creams, which are officially accredited as vegan by the Vegetarian Society. Available in two flavours, the strawberry and chocolate scoops are currently in the trial phase and could become a permanent menu item if they prove popular enough.

Is anything at McDonald’s vegan or vegetarian?

In Australia, no Macca’s menu items are certified as vegan or vegetarian. While individual items may not contain meat or animal products, there’s no guarantee that cross-contamination hasn’t happened in transport or during preparation.

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