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.’

Well, tell you what, why don’t you test it out first and we’ll see how you are in 10 years.
I prefer my cows eating grass, not chemicals.

Wyke have said their cheese is free from Bovaer.

I did read that on the Yeo Valley statement, but does all organic produce need a soil association “grant” to be labelled organic, or is it just an extra selling point for the likes of Yeo valley?

Because if not, then supermarket organic produce could still contain bovaer.

When I was at Tesco today, Wyke was the only cheddar sold out, and someone was looking for it as I was there! Curious if it’s connected..

We used to talk about a carbon footprint. Why don't we anymore?

I’ll try and find out

Does anybody know what milk or butter is safe now then?

Grahams definitely

Yeo Valley organic also confirmed it is free from, however they are also affiliated with Arla so not sure I trust it!

U never heard of grahams stuff idk what to do now as it everybody carrying on just buying milk from Tesco ect I'm due my shop Friday and took alot of my order lol iv been using lurpak butter :( that has it in my partner says clover hasn't apparently but idk the government need lable these things

I'll tell you what's not 'safe'- extreme weather events caused by climate change. Our kids are potentially going to grow up in a dangerous world with limited resources. The Cognitive dissonance on the thread is staggering.

Yea that's possibly correct but I didn't ask about climate change I wanted some advice about this dairy crap

To be organic you have to be certified with either the Soil Association or Organic Farmers and Growers ( OF&G ).

The farms have to follow their rules and have yearly inspections.

It's very strict, they don't just do it for a marketing thing

The inspectors will pick 10 (ish) cows and want to know exactly what they have eaten that year.

All feed labels have to be kept, feed can only come from other certified places. Any supplements also have to come from certified places, you have to show a need and get permission to feed them

What food came from what field, how much muck went on the field, did any extra muck come in i.e. horse muck ( as it helps bind the sloppy cow muck to make it easier to spread ). They will want the feed labels from the horse feed to make sure no prohibited ingredients have come in.

It's possible to have a non compliance on the inspection due to having the incorrect light bulb, a hair line crack in plaster that's know where near the cows or milk, that's how in depth the inspections are.

You seriously think stopping a few cows farting is going to stop that? The delusion is staggering.

We don’t want our kids poisoned with this shite which is more of an immediate problem than ‘climate change’.

Well because we're sheep & beef cattle farmers so it's not something that's currently available to us but am very knowledgeable about it.

I would be more than happy to consume dairy products from those farms & can assure you there are much more worrying things about the food you eat.

Apparently Country Life butter is ok

Is that all what is ok lol 😆 looks like no diary for me for a while until I no what is what anways

I’m full fart milk all the way. I don’t care if the additive has been marked safe and I will be buying dairy that isn’t part of the trial from now on.

No one has said there is anything wrong with the feed, just that it's not approved for organic like any number of other things. Not approved just means it doesn't meet some specific criteria, not that it's in any way unsafe to use.

Does everyone on MN only buy everything organic?

But then who knows what filth the kelp has been growing in with all the pollution in the sea.

I don't think it's possible to have a serious discussion about science and risk with someone like OP who doesn't believe humans are causing climate change (except maybe through 'deforestation and soil depletion')!

We can all clearly see climate change impacts now - floods in Spain, the UK heatwave of up to 40C a couple of years ago, etc. Burning fossil fuels is the major cause of increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, deforestation is a contributor, but also methane from various sources including agriculture. Methane has caused almost a third of the heating of the atmosphere so far.

We need to have openness and transparency, yes, but should recognise that harm can be done not just by underplaying risks but also by exaggerating them. An obvious example is exaggerating the dangers of vaccines.

OP derides low emissions zones in cities but these are designed to reduce air pollution which is very clearly dangerous to health, as shown in real human populations, not just animal experiments with high doses of chemicals.

We all make decisions about acceptable levels of risk every day: getting in a car, having a glass of wine, going out in summer without a hat, eating sausages and bacon...

Sure, let's ask questions, but whipping up fear about this while saying we shouldn't worry about climate breakdown and that net zero is a scam is really really unhelpful.

There could be many ways to tackle climate change: flying and driving less: more public transport; incentives to live near places of work and education; reduce food waste; promote second hand; make goods that are designed to last and be repairable and cleanable instead of making products with built in obsolescence. Instead they target burping cows by keeping them inside and feeding them chemicals. How much methane do the rest of the planets animals, (wild and domesticated) produce? If Bill Gates was serious about climate change he wouldn't have 3 private jets. Does anyone know if this is being trialed elsewhere in the world or are just UK subjects the guinea-pigs atm? Oh I see Bill Gates makes his own version of the stuff (so presumably trialed in the US?) but he has donated money to Arla, but not sure for what exactly.

It's pretty much impossible for farmers to feed grass all year round, it doesn't grow well in winter, so no doubt 'your cows' will have consumed some form of feed whether organic or not.

You’ve never heard of silage I take it.

Just leaving this here:

Just found out kerry gold butter won't have it init so we will be having that from now on

Also cathedral cheese doesn't contain bovaer if it helps and also yeo yally is bovaer free