McDonald's impossible task for Impossible Foods

For Impossible Foods, an impossible task.

The plant-based burger pioneer - which just launched a new line of imitation pork-based products at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas - told Reuters it cannot produce enough imitation meat to partner with McDonalds.

Impossible and main rival Beyond Meat have been battling it out for deals with fast-food giants as they and others chase a global alternative meat market worth an estimated $140 billion in the next decade.

Burger King last year launched its soy-based Impossible Whopper in the U.S. and McDonalds has trailed Beyond Meat's PLT - plant, lettuce, tomato - burgers in Canada.

It is though yet to offer a plant-based burger as a regular feature in its 14,000 or so U.S. outlets.

Impossible is working to more than double production but talks with McDonalds have stopped, it said.

CEO Pat Brown told Reuters it would be quote "stupid" to vye for McDonalds at the moment.

Beyond Meat's shares jumped over 12% on the news.

It says its talks with the word's no. 1 fast-food maker are going "very well."

It has capacity, it added, to keep up with demand in the U.S. and globally.