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MONTREAL -- This week has churned up a debate about the hardness of butter across Canada, with palm oil in feed cited as a possible cause.
But several researchers say we can't draw this conclusion without knowing more.
"Many Atlantic Canadians have noted butter is harder," said Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab. "This has put the dairy sector on the defensive, because it's obvious something is going on."
Use of palmitic acids in the cows' feed is one plausible cause, he said. While palm oil and its derivatives are in many things, Charlebois said, dairy should be treated differently because it is a government-subsidized industry in which he believes more transparency is deserved. Dairy boards in Quebec are now set to look at the issue, which he speculates could trigger regulatory changes involving limits or penalties, something seen in other parts of the world such as Europe, he said.
David Christensen, an emeritus professor at the University of Saskatchewan, who has participated in research on behalf of the Dairy Research Extension Consortium of Alberta, said palmitic acid in feed has been proven to increase milk fat yields considerably, an explanation for why it is of such interest to farmers.
But use of the product in feeds is not new, he said, some farmers have been using it for 20 years.
Read more here. (CTV News, Montreal)
But several researchers say we can't draw this conclusion without knowing more.
"Many Atlantic Canadians have noted butter is harder," said Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab. "This has put the dairy sector on the defensive, because it's obvious something is going on."
Use of palmitic acids in the cows' feed is one plausible cause, he said. While palm oil and its derivatives are in many things, Charlebois said, dairy should be treated differently because it is a government-subsidized industry in which he believes more transparency is deserved. Dairy boards in Quebec are now set to look at the issue, which he speculates could trigger regulatory changes involving limits or penalties, something seen in other parts of the world such as Europe, he said.
David Christensen, an emeritus professor at the University of Saskatchewan, who has participated in research on behalf of the Dairy Research Extension Consortium of Alberta, said palmitic acid in feed has been proven to increase milk fat yields considerably, an explanation for why it is of such interest to farmers.
But use of the product in feeds is not new, he said, some farmers have been using it for 20 years.
Read more here. (CTV News, Montreal)
