NotCo quits plant food for AI as Burger King's vegan chicken lands
Chilean food-tech unicorn NotCo sold its Brazilian plant-based food business and quietly shut its Mexican operation, retreating to Chile alone as it bets its future on licensing AI to Nestlé and Mars instead of making food itself.
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Chilean food-tech unicorn NotCo sold its Brazilian plant-based food business and quietly shut its Mexican operation, retreating to Chile alone as it bets its future on licensing AI to Nestlé and Mars instead of making food itself [117].
02
Burger King Austria became the chain's first market anywhere to sell a fully plant-based Crispy Chicken burger, made by The Vegetarian Butcher [116].
03
Mercy For Animals released hatchery footage of newly hatched male chicks being macerated and gassed, timed to a campaign pushing the industry toward already-commercial in-ovo sexing technology [149].
04
A meta-analysis of seventeen publications found vegan diets cut total cancer risk 23% and vegetarian diets cut it 13%, compared with non-vegetarian diets [43].
05
A crossover feeding trial found a whole-food, plant-based diet lowered LDL cholesterol 17.9% more than a standard American diet in adults with a genetic high-cholesterol disorder [38].
06
California's legislature passed a bill creating a "Non-Ultraprocessed Certified" seal whose criteria would disqualify many plant-based meats and dairy alternatives, awaiting Governor Newsom's signature [112].
NotCo Sells Brazilian Business, Shuts Mexican Arm, Bets Everything On AI
Photo: green queen
Chilean food-tech unicorn NotCo sold its Brazilian plant-based dairy and meat business to investment group Ferrara and closed its Mexican arm, continuing a pivot from making plant-based food to licensing its AI product-design platform to companies like Nestlé and Mars [117]. Chile is now the only market NotCo runs directly, and sources told Diario Financiero even that operation could be sold if it isn't profitable by year's end [117]. Green Queen counts more than 85 alt-protein companies acquired, merged, gone bankrupt, or shut down in the last 24 months [117].
“very calm and happy”
Matias Muchnick, NotCo co-founder and CEO, on the Brazil sale · [117]
“It's unprecedented. And that must continue.”
Matias Muchnick, NotCo co-founder and CEO, in a LinkedIn post · [117]
By the numbers
85+alt-protein companies acquired, merged, gone bankrupt, or shut down in the last 24 months, per Green Queen [117]
$1.5BNotCo's peak valuation when it became Chile's first unicorn [117]
<100NotCo's global workforce today, down from a peak of over 300 employees [117]
WatchWhether NotCo's Chilean operations turn profitable by the end of 2026, the threshold insiders say could trigger a sale of the company's last directly run market [117].
Burger King Austria Launches Its First Fully Plant-Based Crispy Chicken
Photo: plant based news
Burger King Austria began selling a fully plant-based version of its Crispy Chicken burger on September 1, its first such launch anywhere in the chain's history [173]. The patty, made by The Vegetarian Butcher from soy and wheat protein, carries a coating flecked with pumpkin seed pieces so customers can tell it apart from the meat version by sight [122]. It's sold as a single, a double, and a wrap, and Burger King confirmed on Instagram that every ingredient, including the mayo, is vegan, though cross-contamination keeps it off official vegan labeling [173].
“Our guests want a diverse selection and increasingly also plant-based alternatives to products that they already know and like.”
Georg Eder, managing director of Burger King Austria · [173]
By the numbers
17gplant-based protein in the single-patty burger [116]
1 in 5Whoppers sold in Germany that are already plant-based, per Burger King Germany's 2023 report [116]
FromPlant Based Newsvegconomist the vegan business magazineGreen Queen
03▬Activism & AnimalsStory
Mercy For Animals Documents Male Chick Culling As Alternative Tech Scales
Photo: mercy for animals
Mercy For Animals released undercover footage from inside a commercial hatchery showing newly hatched male chicks forcibly separated from females and killed by maceration or gassing, part of a global practice that kills an estimated 7 billion male chicks a year, about 200 every second [149]. In-ovo sexing, which identifies a chick's sex inside the egg before it hatches, is already in commercial use in the US and Brazil and can flag males before day 13, when they're unlikely to feel pain [148]. Germany and France have already banned routine chick culling and Italy's ban takes effect December 31, 2026, but the practice remains legal and widespread in the US [148].
“Every year, billions of chicks are killed simply because they are born male. The technology to end this practice already exists. There is no justification for allowing it to continue.”
Arash Yomtobian, president and CEO of Mercy For Animals · [149]
“With hatcheries quickly adopting the technology in Europe and now the United States, we can eliminate chick culling in the near future.”
Andrew Knight, veterinary professor of animal welfare · [149]
By the numbers
7 billionmale chicks killed worldwide each year, about 200 every second [149]
99%+accuracy of AI-assisted in-ovo sexing at identifying male eggs before day 13 [148]
1 centaverage added cost per table egg from in-ovo sexing in Europe [148]
WatchWhether US egg producers, several of which have expressed interest, adopt in-ovo sexing before Italy's December 31, 2026 ban on selective male-chick killing takes effect [148].
FromMercy For Animals
04▲Research & NutritionStory
Meta-Analysis Finds Vegan Diets Cut Total Cancer Risk 23 Percent
Wikimedia Commons / Chickpea
A meta-analysis of seventeen publications on prospective studies found vegetarian diets lower total cancer risk compared with non-vegetarian diets, with vegan diets showing an even larger drop, using World Cancer Research Fund criteria to grade the evidence as "probable" for total, colorectal, colon and breast cancer [43]. The largest single-site reductions were in stomach cancer for vegetarians and breast cancer for vegans [43]. The researchers note BMI explained a moderate part of the associations and call for more research on long-term adherence to the diets [43].
By the numbers
0.77 relative riskof total cancer for vegans vs. non-vegetarians [43]
0.87 relative riskof total cancer for vegetarians vs. non-vegetarians [43]
0.55 relative riskof stomach cancer for vegetarians vs. non-vegetarians, the largest single-site drop found [43]
FromPubMed
Worth Knowing
Food & Recipes
Revo Foods launched COTTAGE PROTEIN+, a dairy-free cottage cheese fermented from apricot kernels with 17g of protein per pot, now on shelves at EDEKA and REWE in Germany [99].
Girl Scouts of the USA is launching Sparkables, its first cookie designed to accommodate common food allergies, made vegan in partnership with Partake for the 2027 cookie season [91].
Tofu was named the best all-round protein source for people and the planet in a 2026 scoring system comparing 20 popular proteins on nutrition, affordability and environmental impact [100].
Innovation
Feisty, the mother-daughter plant-protein soda startup, raised £500,000 to expand its UK footprint and reformulate its pea-and-rice-protein sodas [118].
UK researchers at NAPIC used AI and statistical physics to identify nearly 800 plant proteins that could replace animal-based emulsifiers like whey and egg in food and cosmetics [119].
Nourish Ingredients named SD Guthrie its lead European manufacturing partner after completing a 10-tonne production run of its precision-fermented dairy fat, Creamilux [125].
Jay&Joy, the French plant-based cheese maker, opened part of a €1.3 million crowdfunding round, targeting profitability in 2027 after three straight years of rising losses [121].
Hangry Planet, billed as North America's first fully plant-based gas station, sold for more than $12 million after sales rose roughly 30% once it found its vegan customer base [123].
A think tank costed an EU-wide ban on pig farrowing crates at €1.11 billion, or about €0.008 per kilogram of pork, ahead of the European Commission's planned 2027 welfare rule revision [126].
Activism & Animals
A new philosophy paper argues Iberian orcas' years-long habit of disabling sailing-boat rudders may reflect goal-directed action rather than simple stimulus-response or cultural transmission [147].
Law & Policy
JBS's decision to drop its 2040 net-zero target has become a bellwether for the food industry, with PepsiCo and Morrisons also delaying climate commitments they blame on supply-chain costs and thin regulatory support [161].
Research & Nutrition
A crossover trial found a plant-based meat-supplemented diet lowered TMAO, a cardiovascular risk marker linked to red meat, more than a red-meat-supplemented diet did over six days [45].
One Good Thing
Imogen Grant won Olympic gold in lightweight rowing at Paris 2024, and now that her weight class has been cut from the Games, she's bulking up for open-weight competition on tofu, beans, and protein shakes, eating up to 4,000 calories a day [171]. "I never want it to be a really big part of how I perform, because I don't think that's really how you convince people," she told the BBC [171]. She's also a working NHS doctor, training toward LA 2028 while quietly proving a plant-based diet can carry a body through the hardest years of an athletic career.
Zesty, no-bake Rocking Raw Lemon Bars are a refreshing vegan and gluten-free dessert. Made with almonds, dates, and fresh lemon, they're easy to prepare and.
30 min4 servings10 ingredients
See the ingredients
1 1/4 Cup natural almonds
1 1/2 Cup soft dates*
1 Tbsp all natural vanilla extract
Zest from 1 organic lemon**
2 Tbsp juice from above lemon
1 1/4 Cup dried coconut (shredded or flakes)
1/4 Cup goji berries or dried cranberries
1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp sea salt
* TIP: If your dates are hard, simply soak for 5-10 minutes in warm water and then discard the liquid
** TIP: You can use a lemon zester OR simply peel the zest using a good quality veggie peeler!
vegconomist the vegan business magazine
Mercy For Animals
![Rocking Raw Lemon Bars [Vegan, Gluten-Free]](/briefs/2026-09-09/images/recipe-rocking-raw-lemon-bars-vegan-gluten-free.jpg)