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Canadians are demanding to know why their butter has not been spreadable at room temperature for the last year. This is a major source of frustration in our house too – namely, when butter is not spreadable.
A social media movement is calling this “buttergate” and Canadians reject the notion that it is due to cold winter temperatures. Butter usually spreads in heated homes during the winter but this year is different. Some food experts say that this is due to palm oil that is fed to the cows that produce the dairy for butter.
Palm oil consumption has quadrupled since 1995 and it is in oh-so-many consumer products from food to personal care items. It can be sustainably produced but it is not. Producers burn away rain forests in order to produce this product, destroying the habitat of Sumatran tigers, rhinos and orangutans. It’s bad.
Butter should not have palm oil but margarine usually does. Cow feed does have palm oil, however, and some speculate that farmers have added more of it during the pandemic to keep up with the higher demand for butter. In fact, sales of butter have increased 12% over the last year as more people cook at home. Consumers are now challenging the legality of using palm oil in cow feed and if it took some hard butter to make that happen, that’s a udder-ly great! Get it!?
