Brazilian Meat Juggernaut JBS Launches New Plant-Based ‘Collective’ For EU Brands

JBS, the largest meat company in the world, recently launched a new plant-based “collective” to represent its European plant-based brands.

The Vegetarian Butcher Collective currently includes Vivera, which JBS purchased in 2021, and The Vegetarian Butcher brand, which Vivera acquired in March of this year.

Writing on LinkedIn, Vivera CEO Willem van Weede described the collective as a “new leader” in European plant-based food to represent both product brands.

“For me, this is an incredibly exciting moment, an opportunity to combine our strengths and continue creating delicious plant-based food to enable people to eat open-minded,” continued Van Weede. “Our beloved product brands will retain their unique voice and mission, but together, we become something bigger than the sum of our parts. And what really will make the difference is the magic mix of lovely people from both companies.”

Vivera was founded in the 1990s. Nearly 30 years later, it launched the “world’s first” plant-based steak to 400 Tesco supermarkets across the UK. In June of this year, it introduced a new pre-frozen, quick-marinating tofu to British customers through Asda and Ocado. Meanwhile, Dutch brand The Vegetarian Butcher was first founded as a traditional-style butcher’s shop with all-vegan ingredients in The Hague, before expanding to become a successful international brand.

JBS, a plant-based collective, and animal farming

Photo shows a selection of Vivera products on supermarket shelves — Vivera Vivera launched in the 1990s, but its plant-based steak blew up in 2018

As reported by FoodNavigator, the launch of The Vegetarian Butcher Collective may indicate that JBS is doubling down on plant-based and alternative proteins.

While the company abandoned its US-based plant-based meat division in 2022, it announced its plan to renew focus on the European and Brazilian markets. In 2023, JBS announced that it had begun construction on a USD $62 million cultivated meat research center in Santa Catarina.

A report by Future Market Insights from August predicted that the plant-based market could triple in value by 2035. Europe, in particular, has mostly accepted meat and dairy alternatives as mainstream, while more than a quarter of Brazilians eat plant-based foods at least once a month.

However, JBS has also announced its plan to expand beef exports to China, a move that experts and environmentalists warned could “single-handedly” turn the Amazon from a carbon sink into a significant source of emissions via deforestation. Earlier this year, Greenpeace predicted that JBS is currently unlikely to achieve its pledge to eradicate illegal Amazon deforestation.

According to World Animal Protection, JBS currently confines and slaughters more than five billion chickens, 53 million pigs, 27 million cows, and eight million lambs every year.