Meatless, plant-based burgers are currently all the rage. With Burger King rolling out a meat-free Impossible Whopper nationwide on August 8, White Castle offering Impossible sliders, and TGI Fridays offering Beyond Burgers, an increasing number of restaurants are adding meat-free burgers to their menus.

Actually, it appears McDonald's is working on its own version of a meatless burger to keep up with its American competitors. A few days ago, Crain's Chicago Business reported that Impossible Foods--one of the leading manufacturers of plant-based burgers--"is teaming up with a local food manufacturer that is a key supplier for McDonald's."

This would seem to indicate that McDonald's is making plans to introduce its own meatless burger in the company's U.S.-based restaurants--likely within the next year or so.

It's no secret that McDonald's has been selling meat-free burgers for some time...in Europe. After testing in Sweden during fall 2017, the McVegan burger--featuring a soy-based patty was created by McDonald's with Swedish vegan food company Anamma--the item was permanently added to the menu of McDonald's restaurants in Finland and Sweden in December 2017.

According to news reports, 150,000 of the vegan burgers were sold in just one month. And in January 2019, McDonald's introduced a vegan McFalafel in Sweden, meatless "chicken" nuggets in Norway, and a vegan Spicy Veggie Wrap in the UK.

Now, it appears that it won't be long before McDonald's starts testing its own meat-free burger in the United States. Referring to McDonald's, Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottovy said, "By early next year, you will likely see a plant-based burger test in the U.S."

There certainly seems to be plenty of demand in this country for a meatless McDonald's burger. According to healthy living advocate Kathy Freston, whose Change.org petition to McDonald's has more than 225,000 signatures,

In June, I personally delivered the signatures of over 200,000 customers who want a plant-based option on McDonald's U.S. menu. McDonald's has not responded, but their competitors are embracing the opportunity. Burger King's Impossible Whopper will be available nationwide on Thursday. Last week, Hardee's announced its upcoming plans to test a Beyond Thickburger. And just a few weeks ago, Dunkin' started selling a Beyond Meat breakfast sandwich at 163 locations. McDonald's we're waiting for you to come on board!