Dairy farmers lobby asks members to stop using palm oil in feed after ‘buttergate’
A dairy producers’ lobbying group is asking farmers to consider alternatives to palm supplements in livestock feed pending the results of an investigation launched in response to consumers’ concerns about perceived changes to the consistency of butter.
In a statement Thursday, The Dairy Farmers of Canada said academics and industry experts will soon convene to examine the use of palm oil and its derivatives to boost cows’ diets, while maintaining that the common practice doesn’t raise health or safety concerns.
The inquiry comes in response to anecdotal reports that butter has gotten harder, but some experts question whether spreadability is a widespread issue.
Quebec Dairy Producers released a statement Wednesday calling on farmers to stop supplementing cattle feed with palm-based products as part of a broader look into the use of these ingredients in human food.
The association also raised concerns about the environmental impacts of palm oil production.
Alberta Milk said it’s also encouraging dairy farmers in the province to find alternative feed supplements. “Canadian dairy are going to do better,” chair Stuart Boeve said in a statement Thursday.
The provincial groups expressed support for the Dairy Farmers of Canada’s working committee, which will set out to assess the issue based on scientific literature and feedback from consumers.
“It is essential that decisions be made on a factual basis and that science guide our sector,” Dairy Farmers of Canada said.
“Notwithstanding this announcement, we stress that all milk produced in Canada is as safe as always to consume and is subject to Canada’s robust health and safety standards.”
At the centre of the churning controversy, which some have dubbed “buttergate,” is Calgary food writer Julie Van Rosendaal, whose investigation into the issue has garnered international media attention.
Van Rosendaal said her deep dive into the dairy sector began in her own kitchen, when she noticed that it seemed to be taking longer for her butter to soften.
She took to social media to see if other bakers were having similar struggles, and was flooded with responses from users who had also detected a change in texture.
“The fact that it was people across Canada, the fact that it kept coming up throughout the season, indicated to me that it wasn’t just me,” Van Rosendaal said by phone.
“A lot of people are asking this question, ‘What’s up with butter?”’
After consulting with experts, Van Rosendaal homed in on a possible explanation for why the spread seemed to be stiffer.
Her theory, which she laid out in an article for the Globe and Mail, posits that dairy producers have increased use of palm supplements in cattle feed to keep up with demand for butter amid a pandemic-fuelled baking craze.
For about two decades, farmers have added palmitic acid, a saturated fat found in palm oil, to dairy rations to boost milk production and fat content. This can affect the makeup of milk fat to increase the melting point of butter, according to researchers, which would make it harder to spread.