Starbucks Drops Impossible as UK Eyes Cultivated Meat Carve-Out
Starbucks will drop the Impossible Breakfast Sandwich this month, ending a partnership that began in 2020, in a year when US foodservice plant protein sales fell 7%.
4 top stories37 sources read157 articles scanned6 sides of vegan life
Starbucks will drop the Impossible Breakfast Sandwich this month, ending a partnership that began in 2020, in a year when US foodservice plant protein sales fell 7% [76].
02
A draft UK-EU agrifood deal is reported to include a temporary novel foods exemption that would protect UK cultivated meat approvals; nothing is confirmed before the 20 November summit [77].
03
A year of undercover filming at 16 Arla-supplying farms logged 360 alleged welfare breaches, and Arla has opened an urgent investigation [82].
04
Mondelēz is pressing trademark claims against two small vegan chocolate brands, Catherine's Originals and Moo Free [51][127].
05
In 46 US children, higher ultra-processed food intake was associated with stronger reward-region brain responses to food cues and with larger gains in body fat a year later [1][23].
06
Of 700 Indian meat eaters in a blind test, 60% liked the 26 plant-based products, and two matched their meat benchmarks on liking [83].
The Stories: the day’s biggest developments, in the sources’ own words
01▼Food & RecipesStory
Starbucks drops the Impossible Breakfast Sandwich after six years on US menus
Photo: green queen
Starbucks will remove the Impossible Breakfast Sandwich from its US menu this month, ending a partnership with Impossible Foods that began in 2020; Green Queen reported the move after Bloomberg broke it [76]. The sandwich was never vegan, with a cage-free egg and aged Cheddar on top of the plant-based sausage patty, but it was the chain's main plant protein at the centre of the plate [76]. IHOP, the Cheesecake Factory and White Castle have also dropped Impossible, while Burger King, AMC Theatres and Wayback Burgers still carry it [76].
“While we no longer offer the Impossible Breakfast Sandwich, our baristas would be happy to recommend an alternative sandwich,”
Starbucks statement to Bloomberg, as quoted by Green Queen · [76]
“We’re proud to have partnered with Starbucks for more than six years to bring Impossible Sausage to breakfast lovers across the country,”
UK and EU draft food trade deal may spare cultivated meat approvals
Photo: green queen
The UK and EU have agreed a draft deal to remove post-Brexit checks on agrifood trade, the BBC reported, and EU member states are due to review an outline of it today [45]. Reports of a time-limited exemption for novel foods have emerged, GFI Europe says, which would let the Food Standards Agency keep its own approval work going instead of voiding UK authorisations in favour of the EU's slower process [77]. Neither the UK government nor the European Commission has confirmed the exemption [77].
“If it goes ahead, a temporary novel food exemption would have a significant positive impact on efforts to bring products such as cultivated meat and precision fermentation to the UK market,”
Linus Pardoe, senior UK programme manager, Good Food Institute Europe · [77]
“this has not been publicly confirmed by the UK government, the European Commission, or member states”
600approval holders and businesses the FSA had reportedly warned that the deal could render their UK authorisations void [77]
up to six yearsfor the EU novel food process they would otherwise have to follow [77]
WatchThe UK-EU summit on 20 November is where the novel foods question should be settled, and the FSA says it will update businesses afterward [45][77].
Animal Justice Project says its year-long undercover investigation, run from October 2025 to September 2026 across 13 English counties, recorded 360 alleged welfare breaches at farms supplying Arla Foods, the UK's largest dairy company [82]. Arla told Dorset Life it had launched an urgent investigation, and no court, regulator or assurance body has yet determined the findings to be breaches [82]. AJP is asking Tesco and Morrisons to suspend five farms linked to their supply chains, while acknowledging that the destination of milk from individual farms is not publicly transparent [82].
“This investigation is not about one farm or one worker losing their temper. Across 13 counties and 16 Arla farms, we documented the same problems again and again.”
99.8%of audited farmers with "no major mobility issues" in Arla's 2025 reporting, which AJP says counts lameness as major only when more than 15% of a herd is affected [82]
Fromvegconomist the vegan business magazine
04▼Law & PolicyStory
Mondelēz presses trademark claims against two small vegan chocolate brands
Photo: vegconomist
Mondelēz, through its Swiss subsidiary Kraft Foods Schweiz Holding, is taking legal action against Catherine's Originals, a vegan chocolate start-up founded in 2021, alleging that its O'bar infringes Toblerone trademark rights [51][81]. Days later, the company wrote to vegan brand Moo Free demanding that White Choccy Snowballs come off shelves, citing Cadbury's registration of "snowball" and "snowballs" for confectionery, though Mondelēz says no legal action has been filed [127]. Both brands dispute the claims [51][127].
“We strongly disagree with Kraft’s claim against us and are working with our legal team to defend our position,”
2001year Cadbury registered the "Snowball" and "Snowballs" trade marks for confectionery [127]
around two yearsMoo Free says it had sold White Choccy Snowballs before the legal letter arrived [127]
FromJust Foodvegconomist the vegan business magazineFoodNavigator.com
Worth Knowing
Food & Recipes
Plate pick: baked parsnip fries, tossed with olive oil and rosemary and roasted 25 to 30 minutes, under a stovetop cremini mushroom gravy built on shallot, garlic and soy sauce, a seasonal parsnip dinner that needs no blender [43].
Innovation
Ivy Farm Technologies won UK clearance to sell cultivated Wagyu beef as a pet food ingredient, only the second such approval after Meatly's cultivated chicken in 2024, while its human-food application still waits on regulators [78].
Meatly has moved into Imperial College London's Grapht Works site, funded by its £10.4 million Series A, and plans its first production runs there in 2027 [84].
Law & Policy
Brad's Raw Chips is recalling about 25,000 bags of its kale chips over thallium, which the dehydration process concentrated from the kale itself, and says buyers should discard them with no refund [116].
Activism & Animals
A comparative legal report found 72% of UK pigs were tail docked in 2018 to 2020 despite rules restricting routine docking, while Finland, which bans it, sees severe tail lesions in only 0.9% to 1% of pigs [100].
Wins & Culture
A review of 73 consumer-facing food interventions found education succeeded 86 percent of the time, against 53 percent for simple messages such as "eat less meat" [139].
One Good Thing
Rich Roll finished the New York City Marathon shortly after turning 60, in 6:05:30, serving as run support for US Army veteran Cedric King, a double above-the-knee amputee [140]. He was a year out from spinal fusion surgery and admitted that "my run training consisted of two weekly 5-mile run-walks." [140] The spine held, and a vegan since 2006 got to the finish line with someone else's race riding on his pace [140].
Perfectly golden-brown baked parsnip fries meet a rich, peppery mushroom gravy in this fun twist on potatoes and gravy. Seasoned with rosemary, garlic, and thyme, this hearty dish…
Just Food
vegconomist the vegan business magazine