Burger King says it never promised Impossible Whoppers were vegan in lawsuit response

https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/burger-king-impossible-whopper-lawsuit

Burger King is defending itself against a class-action lawsuit over its Impossible Whopper, arguing that it never advertised the popular meatless item as vegan or promised to cook them any particular way.

The burger chain is currently in a legal battle against a vegan customer who sued the company in November for cooking the plant-based patties on the same grills as meat burgers.

In a court filing on Thursday, Burger King said the lawsuit should be thrown out because plaintiff Phillip Williams should have asked how Impossible Whoopers were cooked before ordering, Reuters reports.

In a court filing on Thursday, Burger King said the lawsuit should be thrown out because plaintiff Phillip Williams should have asked how Impossible Whoopers were cooked before ordering. (Photo: iStock)

Williams said his Impossible Whopper was “coated in meat by-products” after purchasing the burger at an Atlanta drive-thru. He and vegans all over the country became outraged at Burger King’s cooking practices.

Williams "assumed that an Impossible Whopper would satisfy his own particularly strict form of veganism ... solely because he asked a Burger King restaurant employee to 'hold the mayo,'" Burger King said. "This claim has no basis."

What’s more, the company said Williams would have known how the Impossible Whopper was prepared had he done the “smallest amount of investigation” on its website or by reading media reports.

Williams claims in the lawsuit that Burger King's menu makes no “disclosures on its menu” that the patty-cooking method would “result in meat by-products on the burger.” (Photo by Yichuan Cao/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

In his lawsuit, Williams claims in the lawsuit that Burger King's menu makes no “disclosures on its menu” that the patty-cooking method would “result in meat by-products on the burger.”

However, the fast-food chain did previously disclose that the (not entirely) vegan burger would be made in an “open kitchen environment” and provided an asterisk on the product’s official launch page warning consumers of its cooking methods.

Burger King also confirmed that vegan or vegetarian guests can request their patties be prepared in an oven instead of in the shared broiler.

In his lawsuit, Williams is seeking damages and requesting Burger King cook the Impossible Whopper on an entirely different grill.

The Impossible Whopper rolled out to restaurants across the country back in August.