Dairy cows given synthetic additive in feed to hit net zero
PAUL HOMEWOOD, h/t IAN MAGNESS
Europe’s biggest dairy company is facing a backlash after giving cows a synthetic additive to their feed in an attempt to cut their methane emissions.
Arla, which makes brands including Lurpak butter and Cravendale milk, said it was working with Morrisons, Tesco and Aldi to trial giving cows the additive Bovaer.
Thirty of Arla’s 9,000 farmers will test how the additives can be introduced into normal feeding routines, with the aim of then rolling Bovaer out more broadly.
Arla said Bovaer had been found to reduce methane emissions from cows by around 27pc.
Morrisons, Tesco and Aldi said it was a “great way of testing out where we can drive change at scale to bring down emissions”.
However, the announcement sparked a backlash on social media, with some shoppers raising concerns about the use of additives in their groceries.
Some went as far as to say they would no longer shop at supermarkets involved in the trial, while others urged the grocers to label any products which may have come from the farms using the additive.
There is no suggestion that the additive is not safe for consumers, with the UK’s Food Standard Agency having approved it for use.
The regulator also said that Bovaer poses “an acceptable” risk to the environment.
Customers have no ‘strong connection’ to net zero
The backlash will be seen as an indication of the challenges facing supermarkets as they race to meet net zero, with Tesco, Morrisons and Aldi all vowing to be carbon neutral by 2035.
Clive Black, a retail analyst at Shore Capital, said supermarkets still faced a challenge in convincing customers of the merits of net zero: “Not many shoppers really are making choices about the groceries they buy on the basis of sustainability. There is a stronger connection to aspects like animal welfare, but not net zero.”
However, he said it was good for supermarkets to be embracing these eco-friendly initiatives, particularly given anti-meat and anti-dairy campaigners were using green claims to attack the livestock industry.
It comes as billions of pounds are being pumped into efforts to reduce methane emissions from cows.
In 2022, Frans Timmermans, the vice president of the European Commission, said tackling methane emissions would be “the cheapest and fastest way to slow down global warming”.
Over 100 countries have pledged to reduce their methane emissions by 30pc by the end of the decade
Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s billionaire founder, recently donated $9.4m (£7.8m) to a project at the Pirbright Institute in Surrey, which is working on a vaccine that will reduce the amount of methane-
According to the Standard, the additive is not exactly harmless:
Surely the safety of humans should be the number one consideration, not methane reduction?
This article (Dairy cows given synthetic additive in feed to hit net zero) was published by Not a Lot of People Know That and is republished here under “Fair Use” with attribution to the author Hannah Boland
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Major Dairy Supplier to Trial Potentially Toxic “Low Emission” Cow Feed
KIT KNIGHTLY
Major dairy suppliers and supermarkets are partnering with chemical company DSM-Firmenich to trial new “low-emission” dairy products nationwide.
Soil Association organic standards stipulate that all ingredients/components of a feed additive must be actively approved for use and be deemed safe and nutritionally useful for the animal. The main components that make up Bovear are not included in the list of approved…
— Soil Association (@SoilAssociation) November 27, 2024
Arla, a cooperative of over 2500 British dairy farms, is working with supermarkets Tesco, Aldi and Morrisons to market new “low emission” milk, butter and cheese.
A joint statement from supermarkets published on Arla’s website says:
Through collaboration as part of Arla’s FarmAhead™ Customer Partnership, we have the ability to address some of the climate challenges facing our food system. It is this collective approach that is really going to make a difference. Being involved in using a feed additive is a great way of testing out where we can drive change at scale to bring down emissions.”
The plan is to add a new drug called “bovaer” to the cow’s food to change the chemistry of their digestive process, lower the methane content of their burps, and thus save the planet.
But if that sounds like a dystopian and potentially dangerous idea to you, don’t worry it’s all been tested and found to be safe.
Sure, the chemicals in bovaer shouldn’t be breathed in, or rubbed on your skin and dear god don’t get them near your eyes (in fact government regulations say you should wear personal protective equipment when working with it), but so what?
You don’t rub milk into your eyes or breathe cheddar cheese do you?
And yes, the carcinogenetic studies did find it may have caused tumors in 8% of female rats, but that means you’ve got a 92% chance of being fine. Besides, a team of experts “re-analysed” those results and found they “weren’t statistically significant”.
Anyway, all the tumors were benign, so what is the fuss about?
And who even cares if it can make men infertile? Hello! We have a population crisis, if anything more infertility is a good thing.
Let’s just go and look at the pictures of happy animals on DSM Firmenich’s website. They even have a (totally real) counter for all the emissions they’ve lowered.
Isn’t that nice?
It doesn’t even really matter at this point if climate change is real (it’s not) or the drug works (who cares?) or if bovaer is even safe for human consumption (I guess we’ll find out) – just think about it for a moment:
They are adding potentially harmful chemicals to cows’ food to stop their burps from affecting the weather.
…it’s just mad.
But madness is very much the new normal.
Who’d have thought Prince Charles’ methane-catching cow gas mask would ever be topped in the “weirdest cow-related idea” stakes?
Oh, there is some good news. According to the Soil Association, Bovaer is not approved organic and therefore cannot be legally added to “organic” dairy products:
Soil Association organic standards stipulate that all ingredients/components of a feed additive must be actively approved for use and be deemed safe and nutritionally useful for the animal. The main components that make up Bovear are not included in the list of approved…
— Soil Association (@SoilAssociation) November 27, 2024
Another reason, supposing you needed one, to shop local and/or organic if you can.
This article (Major Dairy Supplier to Trial Potentially Toxic “Low Emission” Cow Feed) was created and published by Off Guardian and is republished here under “Fair Use”
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