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Cases / Agriculture, livestock and food · Global · 2021–2025

Unilever sold The Vegetarian Butcher to JBS-owned Vivera in March 2025

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 2 insufficient · 1 not measured See the gaps

JBS, the world's largest meat company, owns the plant-based brand Vivera, which bought The Vegetarian Butcher from Unilever in 2025. JBS also took a majority stake in cultivated-meat firm BioTech Foods in 2021. The sources reviewed do not say what either deal means for land or emissions.

What?
JBS-owned Vivera bought Unilever's The Vegetarian Butcher; JBS took a majority stake in BioTech Foods DutchNews
Where?
Netherlands, Spain and Brazil
When?
November 2021 and March 2025 DutchNews
Who?
Gained
  • JBS — Owns Vivera and holds a majority stake in BioTech Foods Food Dive
Lost
  • Unilever — Sold The Vegetarian Butcher in 2025; price not disclosed DutchNews
Harmed
None on record
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Majority stake and brand purchases between companies Food Dive
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

In March 2025 Unilever sold The Vegetarian Butcher to Vivera, which JBS owns, and the price was not disclosed, DutchNews reported.

Unilever had acquired the brand from its founder in 2018.

In November 2021 JBS took a majority stake in the Spanish cultivated-meat company BioTech Foods and announced $100 million for a Spanish plant and Brazilian research, Food Dive reported.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: JBS bought Vivera in 2021 at an enterprise value of about 341 million euros.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: Smithfield (Pure Farmland) and JBS USA (Planterra) have cut back their plant-based brands.
    • None on record The sources reviewed do not give the price Vivera paid for The Vegetarian Butcher.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

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    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
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