I don't see any way a company the size of Unilever (with whom I've worked mant times) would actually allow the independence Cohen & Greenfield thought they were getting.
It's just not realistic.
If they wanted that degree of independence, they needed to stay independent. Less money for them, but I think it was naive to think they'd get the big payday & have a giant corporation keep a promise if said company thought their views conflicted with the corporate mission.
It's a shame, but a company that powerful can't be trusted to do anything but act on their own interest.

Big corporations alway screw up the smaller companies they acquire.

I do have to say, however, that my dealings with Unilever always suggested they are not all that willing to sacrifice quality.
They're bug & powerful enough to be able to raise prices if quality costs money.
However, I worked with their personal care divisions & not foods. So, I'm only speculating as to this product line.

They tried to bake the independence of the company into a Board that was not allowed to make decisions that might affect profits or offend shareholders. It was never going to work. They should have made it a worker owned co-op.

Chumbawamba 1986. I knew what a shitty company Unilever was in 1989 when i first listened to this album. I knew when B&J sold it to them that Unilever was never going to let them live up to their ideals.

Unillever doesn’t give a fuck about social justice or unjust wars or anything decent. All they care about is squeezing every last penny out of the brand. Capitalism doesn’t give, all it does is eat. Ben and Jerry were always going to get fucked over, that’s the nature of the beast they sold out to.