Is the Burger King halloumi burger vegetarian? (Picture: Burger King, Getty)

When Burger King announced the release of a halloumi burger, vegetarians rejoiced.

But we may have been pleased too quickly.

It turns out that while Burger King promotes their halloumi burger as a ‘meat-free’ option, the halloumi is cooked in the same fryer and oil as their chicken and fish products.

Of course, for many vegetarians this won’t be a problem. But those who require their food to be cooked separately from meat products, this is an issue that shuts off the burger as a fast food option.


Over on Twitter, vegetarians who hoped to try the burger weren’t pleased with this revelation.

@BurgerKingUK @guardian @vegsoc @AllergyUK1 Burger King. How could you call the halloumi burger suitable for vegetarians, when it's cooked in the same oil as chicken. — Hiten Kalyanji (@Hitenk108) July 12, 2019

Wow, so get to @BurgerKingUK & ask about the new #halloumiburger the staff member informs me that it is fried alongside the chicken? Can you confirm this? #vegetarian #veggies — Sabji Hunter (@SabjiHunter) July 9, 2019

@BurgerKingUK Just went to try the new halloumi burger, lucky i read the very small print because it is fried in animal fat and im vegeterian. Very missleading and i presume your chips are the same. ITS 2019 GUYS @vegsoc #vegeterian #halloumiburger #burgerking #containsmeat pic.twitter.com/jOC8Kf2uZN — †𝖔𝖒 𝕯𝖆𝖛𝖎𝖊𝖘 (@SpitfireEU) July 9, 2019



We had a chat with the team over at Burger King, who confirmed that the halloumi burger is indeed fried in the same fryer as the chicken and fish.

A spokesperson told Metro.co.uk: ‘At this moment in time we’re not operationally able to facilitate separate fryers and oil filtration systems in all of our restaurants. However this is a focus for us and our team are actively looking into solutions for how we can change this in the future.’

When we asked about why they bothered to release a vegetarian option that’s cooked in the same area as chicken and fish, Burger King’s PR team were quick to state that they haven’t described their halloumi burger as ‘vegetarian’, instead using the term ‘meat-free’.

That’s true – in the original press release Burger King describes the burger as an addition to their ‘meat-free alternative’ range.

And in the images of the burger, there’s some small print at the bottom stating that the halloumi is cooked in the same fryer as chicken and fish.

Small print does clarify that the halloumi is cooked in the same fryer as chicken and fish (Picture: Burger King)

When asked about the halloumi burger online, Burger King is responding that yes, it’s cooked in the same fryer as chicken and fish.

So it’s not that any explicit deception has occurred. Instead, people have assumed that a ‘meat-free’ burger made of halloumi would have been created to be vegetarian-friendly.

We also asked Burger King why they would go to the effort of making a halloumi burger that isn’t suitable for vegetarians, surely the key demographic of a burger without meat.

They responded: ‘We are constantly looking at ways to develop our menu range to offer our customers more choice and respond to current trends.

‘As a nation, the UK is one of the biggest importers globally of halloumi – there’s is a clear demand from both meat and non-meat eaters alike enjoying the squeaky cheese. Even from the initial launch last week we can see the Halloumi King has been incredibly popular with our customers.’

In case you were wondering, Burger King’s veggie burger is actually vegetarian. This one is cooked separately from meat products as the patty isn’t fried, so Burger King is ‘able to maintain vegetarian cooking standards’.

That suggests that anything fried is cooked in the same fryer, meaning that fries and onion rings will also have been in contact with chicken and fish. Just a warning for any strict vegetarians who thought that those sides were easy veggie options.



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