Arla, methane and milk - the truth
Thank goodness for fact checkers
How these things gain traction will no doubt be the subject of many hundred PHD thesis but the sight of people wasting milk and binning butter on social media has reached crazy levels.
TikTok-ers, X commenters, political wannabes and youTubers have all been in on the act of trying to whip some outrage over a feed designed to reduce methane from cows. The misinformation that has been circulating has concocted a mixture of conspiracy about Bill Gates and bizarre medical claims - both of which have been debunked by reliable sources (see below).
The explainer above does a pretty good job of spelling out the issue with the product at the heart of this, called Bovaer.
The manufacturers say “Bovaer® contributes to a significant and immediate reduction of the environmental footprint of beef and dairy products. It has been approved by multiple authorities as being safe for use. Just a quarter teaspoon per cow per day reduces methane emissions from dairy cattle by 30% and up to 45% for beef cattle, on average.”
Why is this important?
Methane is an extremely potent Greenhouse Gas (GHG). Ruminant animals like cattle host anaerobic gut microbes that digest cellulose from grass and methane is the waste product. It’s burped out in tens of litres a day by each individual animal and so the race is on to find ways to reduce this.
Methane is particularly damaging in terms of the climate crisis as it has a high Global Warming Potential (GWP) meaning it contributes greatly to the heating of the planet.
How widespread is the use of Bovaer?
The National Farmers Union says: “This trial, due to take place on up to 30 farms, aims to understand if enteric methane emissions from cows could be reduced through the feeding of a methane suppressing food supplement. Bovaer® claims to reduce enteric methane emissions from cows on average by 27%.”
And in a statement to Farmers Weekly, Arla says: “Bovaer has already been extensively and safely used across Europe and at no point during the trial will there be any impact on the milk, as it does not pass from the cow into the milk.
“Regulatory bodies, such as the European Food Safety Authority and the UK Food Standards Agency, have approved its use based on evidence that it does not harm the animals or negatively impact their health, productivity, or the quality of milk.”
Debunking
Fact checking experts at Full Fact have been looking into the social media claims:
“Posts claiming that the methane-reducing cow feed additive Bovaer can cause cancer and is linked to Bill Gates have been circulating widely on social media, and we’ve been asked about them by readers.”
They conclude that:
Bovaer has been deemed safe by the Food Standards Agency and other food safety authorities in the approved doses.
Bill Gates has nothing to do with Bovaer’s development. He has invested in a different company also working on its own cow feed supplements.
You can read the full explanation and evidence here.
Likewise, BBC Verify has also looked into the claims. They say:
“It (Bovaer) has been approved for use by UK regulators, and several major supermarkets will stock milk produced by cattle eating feed with the additive.
“Some online users have raised concerns around the use of Bovaer, citing issues around the safety of certain compounds used in it.
“However, experts have told the BBC that the additive “does not pose any food safety issues”.
You can read the full explanation here.