Dairy Cow Feed Additive Trials - statement from Soil Association

[Verbena17]

In case anybody is wondering about how safe the Uk milk chain is, following the past few days news about the Bovaer dairy feed trials and Arla milk/products, the Soil Association has made this statement…

‘This week, Arla Foods UK announced a trial on 30 farms for the use of Bovaer®, a feed additive aimed at reducing methane emissions from cows. news.arlafoods.co.uk/news/major-ret…

This has led us to receive a large number of questions about whether this feed additive would be permitted in organic. It would not.

Soil Association organic standards stipulate that all ingredients/components of a feed additive must be actively approved for use and be deemed safe and nutritionally useful for the animal. The main components that make up Bovaer® are not included in the list of approved products/compounds and as a result, Bovaer® would not be permitted under organic standards and for use in organic farming.

Arla buys milk from many different farms and they supply both organic and non-organic milk. Any organic milk they supply must meet organic regulation requirements and the production has to be completely separate from any non-organic milk. This must be demonstrated and independently audited every year.’

Interesting. Thank you for this.

Thank you for this - I have been worrying because I have literally just switched my 1 year old to cows milk. I will be getting Organic from now on.

Good to know thanks. I've set up a doorstep delivery for organic milk, butter and cheese from local farms so this was the push I needed.

Thank you, I was wondering about this earlier and planning to research how to avoid this later on tonight.

It smells like a future scandal.

Presumably this will end up in UHT milk as well?

It will potentially be in yoghurt, cheese, butter, cream…

The trials began earlier in the year i think and the milk started being distributed i think in July 2024.
Any organic product cannot be in liked in the trials but obviously if you go out for dinner somewhere, you wouldn’t know what they used.

No direct source but it seems some side effects in humans and test animals (rats ) were eye issues on contact, respiratory issues if inhaled and infertility in men…but that’s from direct contact with the product - i didn’t read the whole paper and I don’t know how much would get into the milk.

I’m kind of hoping this hasn’t actually been distributed into the shops and instead, this whole thing is being done to wake up the public into rising up against big corporations, like Arla….kind of like how they’re encouraging the public to support farmers against inheritance tax etc. Making the People realise that they have a voice and shouldn’t just sit back and accept it all.

Thankfully there are lawyers and other groups and experts fighting the labelling side of things - saying that if we unknowingly bought milk in from July, we were part of an experiment we knew nothing about and didn’t consent to.

I thought Arla was a cooperative rather than a corporation?

Nevertheless, what does Arla get out of this? Surely it's costing money to give cows an extra supplement?

Arla make Waitrose own brand (delicious) cheddar, so I have an interest in this story...

I’m surprised Arla are trialing this, they’ve always struck me as very conscientious and carefully introduce well thought out approaches.

A tiktok video I saw today suggests that this is already being used in most supermarket milk producers (at the insistence of the supermarket or dairy), but I haven’t checked this so it may not be accurate.

Will be buying organic from now on.

I am vegan and don't drink the breastmilk of a cow full stop. It's wrong on so many levels.

I'm guessing Bovaer cover the cost and maybe more?

Yes you’re right I think - a Co-operative.
There’s mention of them trialling it in beef too - because it’s obviously not only methane from dairy they’re on about.

I really believe net zero is a total scam anyway so it’s all just so depressing

I’m really unhappy about this. I regularly purchase Tesco own brand milk, yogurt & cheese. According to the article linked below, it seems I have been unknowingly consuming Bovaer-fed dairy:

https://news.arlafoods.co.uk/news/tesco-and-arla-launch-groundbreaking-sustainability-partnership

I will have to switch to organic dairy. I really think that consumers should have been told about this change.

Does anybody know if Bovaer is currently being fed to cattle for meat production? Or is it limited to dairy farms for now?

Yes i assumed that too. Think Bovaer is made by a German company but I’m sure Arla are going be able to make it at their plant in Scotland

I was vegan from 2019 - 2021 but then was admitted to hospital where there were zero vegan options and I was too poorly to argue 😬. So I began eating dairy again and then meat.

But as a previous breastfeeding supporter for BfN, I too know we don’t need to be drinking cows milk.

Baked goods and basically anything that says "Milk" in the ingredient list so I imagine a Tesco lasagna will have milk in the béchamel sauce.

Thanks OP, will read the links tomorrow

As an Arla farmer I'm livid about this. Arla is farmer owned (about 2300) and 30 farms are involved in this trial. Until yesterday I had no idea this was happening. How can the people who make the decisions think this was a good idea, they've screwed us over. Again. I don't blame anyone for boycotting Arla products.
Arla should stop these trials immediately, apologise and those responsible for this shitshow fired. I am fed up with being powerless and hated by the public.

The Public do NOT hate you at all!
We all know farmers get shafted by government and Big Agro.

Thank you for everything you do to keep Britain fed🤗

I’m also raging about this. As if farming wasn’t in enough of a mess

we have had no notice we have been consuming this. Haven’t we learnt enough from previous food scandals that we need long term safety data?

oh it’s not in the actual milk they say - I don’t remotely believe it

it will be hugely restrictive avoiding this crap eating out

diss anyone know if Lidl is using it)

Why on earth are you making a fuss about this? Reduced methane from cows is good because methane is a major contributor to climate change. And this feed additive isn't going to change the milk. Sounds like you've been reading conspiracy theories.

"Reduced methane from cows is good because methane is a major contributor to climate change"

Feeding cows a seaweed supplement significantly reduces methane. Organic dairy farms already do this.

It’s possible for something to be simultaneously good for the environment, but harmful to human health.

As far as I can see, there have been no long term studies on the effects of humans consuming meat & dairy from Bovaer® fed cattle. We have no idea what the health consequences (good, neutral or bad) are to humans who regularly consume these products over years or decades.

Bovaer® works by suppressing the enzyme which produces methane from hydrogen & CO2 in the rumen of the cow. Perhaps this has a knock-on effect we are not yet aware of, such as up-regulating the production of other compounds within the rumen. If it does, these compounds could be beneficial, neutral or detrimental to human health. It’s possible that such compounds could bioaccumulate slowly, making the health consequences difficult to determine in the short term and only becoming clear after years of consumption.

An infamous example is the pesticide DDT - it took almost 30 years between first being commercially available for use in the agricultural industry, to being banned due to its harmful health effects stemming from bioaccumulation.

The crux of the matter is, there appears to be no long term safety data for this pharmaceutical which is being administered to the food supply without people’s knowledge or consent. Consumers are being experimented on without awareness.

I'm so sorry. I'm really worried that it's part of a plan to drive farmers out of farming.
People boycott (as I will be because I don't do anything until I'm convinced it's in my best interests) and the farmers suffer.

Wow thank you.i didn't k ow about this. My children are allergic to milk but I do have cheese /butter sometimes. This has made me pause and reconsider