By Jessica DiNapoli
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Unilever’s Magnum ice cream business, set to publicly list in November, plans to use Chilean start-up NotCo’s artificial intelligence to reformulate products and create new ones.
Magnum plans to use NotCo’s AI to look at the calories in ice cream, make new plant-based products and help manage rising commodity costs, said Zbigniew Lewicki, chief research, design and innovation officer at the Magnum Ice Cream Company, in a statement.
Lewicki said consumers want to indulge but are also looking for smaller portions and more sustainable products.
Magnum, which also includes the Ben & Jerry’s and Cornetto ice cream brands, is one of more than a dozen consumer goods companies working with NotCo to overhaul their products, said CEO Matias Muchnick.
Over the last few years, major food makers have used the company’s AI to try to more quickly respond to changing consumer tastes inspired by the Make America Healthy Again movement and surging inflation in raw ingredients like cocoa, Muchnick said.
The companies are using NotCo’s technology to find replacements for synthetic dyes, reducing sugar and finding the next viral flavor, like Dubai chocolate, Muchnick said.
NotCo previously worked with Kraft Heinz on plant-based macaroni and cheese, cheese singles and mayo.
(Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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