Yeah, I had no idea that could even be a possibility… that palm oil could become an ingredient of cow’s milk based on feed!
The producers go to such lengths to earn brownie points by assuring us they aren’t GMOs or grown with hormones, then they do something like that.
Saw your edit, pure caramel is a sugar only, you can have a spoon of sugar and melt it in it by lightener and you will get a brown substance which is a caramel. That’s how regural cockerels are made. But of course now you can have all kinds of ingridients in sweets. Butterscotch has strong milky taste.
this is what I mean in South Africa. Never had reason to look intently at the label … dairy desert, caramel treat.
https://www.game.co.za/game-za/en/All-Game-Categories/Groceries-%26-Household/Baking-Ingredients-%26-Desserts/Essences-%26-Colourants/Wet-Baking-Ingredients/Nestle-Canned-Caramel-Treat-360-G/p/604233-EA
Starting with precycle - don’t buy it (from a local geographer)
NPR picked up the story today. Sounds like the issue has been noticed in Canada and they blame the pandemic for increasing butter demand.
The dairy producers have issued a statement and are convening a working group to study the question. They have also recommended that farmers not use palm oil as a supplement while they study the matter.
The dairy industry in Canada is different than in many other countries in that it uses legally mandated supply management bodies and marketing boards. Some of the statements about the industry in their statement will not be accurate characterizations of the industry in the USA and other countries.I’ll add this link to the original post.
Suppose we use avocado in place of butter?
Uses a lot of water, in places with a tendency to drought? Like almond trees.
Rather than substituting the butter, it’s probably better to find a substitute feed additive if the goal is to increase fat content in the cows diet. Palm oil is primarily composed of saturated fatty acids, which is not particularly healthy in large amounts for people, let alone the cattle (this is probably what makes the butter harder, too, since saturated fats generally have a higher melting point than unsaturated fats). Sunflower seeds (or refined sunflower oil) might be a viable alternative. They still take quite a lot of water to germinate, but require much less after that, and have a higher ratio of unsaturated fats. The main obstacle would probably be the increased cost compared to palm oil, but that’s something that could change if sunflowers could be grown at the same scale as palm oil.
To be fair, some of those claims of ‘non-GMO’ or ‘No added hormones’ can be misleading, too (and that’s not even addressing the argument that those labels are not necessarily adding any value to the product). It’s also worth keeping in mind that producers goals are not to earn brownie points, but to make sales and minimize costs.
That depends on what you mean by value. If you mean intrinsic qualities that increase its value as food you could argue that point. From a producer’s perspective those labels produce sales in a market sector that cares about such things and therefore very much increase value. In that sense it also makes sense to talk about brownie points, I think.
Absolutely. I was indeed referring to intrinsic value. In this case, however, it seems like the initial determination by the industry was that the cost saving outweighed the loss in perceived value due to the use of palm oil. They may be re-evaluating that given heightened awareness of that fact, however.
That is important to me. I am vegetarian. A breast cancer survivor. I suspect I paid for a love of cheese. I now choose my diary products free of added hormones
We might be veering off topic somewhat, but do you mind if I ask why? Not judging one way or the other, just curious. Again this is a matter of perceived value as opposed to intrinsic value, but how much more would you be willing to pay for ‘no hormones added’ compared to milk from cows treated with rBGH for instance?
It was 20 years ago, but I read around why. One possible cause is lack of vitamin D (also protects against COVID). Another is night owl, which wreaks havoc with hormones. And a third would be excess hormones from dairy products.
This - what I buy (or organic when they have stock)
free of added hormones
A gallon of almond milk takes one tenth as much water to produce as a gallon of dairy milk.
https://foodrevolution.org/blog/almonds-sustainability/
So in light of this, I’ll repeat my original question about avocados.
about avocadoes?
avocado plantations killing bees?
PS reading about nuts and water, I read that seeds use less water. So, less almonds and more sunflower and pumpkin seeds.
Also Brazil nuts which I hope are supporting subsistence farmers?
Comparing dairy to almond farming is a bit of a false comparison. When dairy cows are no longer milked they enter the food chain as meat. I don’t eat beef (or pork or poultry) but lots of people do. As a kid I was puzzled when the daily radio ag report broadcast prices for “bologna bulls” , which it turned out were mostly dairy bulls.
If you’re interested in environmental impact of food choices then I think it’s very relevant to compare dairy farming to production methods for plant-based milks. The figures vary depending on the researchers’ methods, but studies generally show much lower impacts (water use, carbon emissions, etc.) from all plant-based milk sources than from dairy farming. Here’s a BBC report that brings a bunch of data together neatly: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46654042
Certainly, the eventual slaughter of dairy cows may slightly offset some of the impacts, but in general both dairy and meat production are very costly to the environment.
To be clear, footprint is one of the reasons I don’t eat beef. However, assessment of footprint is not as simple as measuring the volume of endproducts. Assessing water consumption per kg protein production, for example, yields a very different result.