Something is amiss with Canadian butter, according to local foodies, who have been arguing for weeks that their blocks are harder to spread than usual.
These so-called “buttergate” anecdotes are spreading online, with many Canadians complaining their butter does not soften at room temperature.
Food experts have churned up palm fat in cow feed as a likely culprit. The dairy industry insists the claims are unfounded.
Buttergate began with a question posed on Twitter by Canadian cookbook author Julie Van Rosendaal: “Have you noticed it’s no longer soft at room temperature?”
Hundreds of home cooks responded with similar butter woes. Van Rosendaal suggested that a higher demand for butter in the pandemic led to changes in livestock feed, as farmers sought to increase production.
Adding palm oil-based energy supplements to cow feed is a decades-old practice said to increase the milk output of cows and increase the milk’s fat content.