Dairy Farmers of Canada comments on the consistency of butter

Dairy Farmers of Canada is aware of recent anecdotal reports regarding the hardness of butter, however it is unclear whether these refer to imported or domestic butter.

There has been no recent data to show that the consistency of butter has changed, and we are not aware of any significant changes in dairy production or processing. Our sector is working with experts to further assess these reports.

“Dairy farmers are uncompromising when it comes to quality and follow some of the most stringent standards in the world to uphold that commitment,” said Jacques Lefebvre, CEO of Dairy Farmers of Canada. “Canada has high regulatory standards and the dairy industry follows a very comprehensive quality assurance program called proAction to ensure the high quality and standards Canadians have come to expect.”

There are many different factors that can have subtle impacts on the taste, texture and the melting point of butter, including differences in a cow’s diet from one region to another or from one season to the next. Exact cow feed rations are determined at the farm level in consultation with animal nutrition experts and may impact the complexity of butter in various ways.

Daniel Lefebvre, Chief Operations Officer at Lactanet (the Canadian network for dairy excellence) and an expert in cow nutrition and milk composition, explains:

"The naturally dominant type of saturated fat in butter is called ‘palmitic acid.’ It is normal for the proportion of palmitic acid to fluctuate within an expected range as a result of seasonal and regional variations in a cow’s diet. This fluctuation can influence the properties of the milk fat, which can affect the temperature at which butter will melt. Our data from routine analyses of the fatty acid profile in milk do not indicate any increase in the proportion of palmitic acid in the past year beyond what would normally be expected.”

There are a number of simple techniques for softening butter at https://bit.ly/3cVdVo9, https://bit.ly/2YXTI8T and https://bit.ly/3a3FXMw.

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