Everything You Need To Know About Canadas Hard Butter Situation

Have you noticed anything strange about your butter lately?

Many Canadians are reporting that their Canadian-made butter is actually harder than normal, or displays a strange watery or rubbery texture, even a room temperature.

Its not the frigid February temperatures to blame. There actually might be a scientific explanation for what many Canadians are calling buttergate. On Thursday, the Dairy Farmers of Canada officially asked members to consider using alternatives to palm oil supplements in their dairy feed pending further investigation.

But how might palm oil in cow feed be connected to the firm butter in your fridge? Heres what you need to know.

Whats up with the butter?

The issue took off on Twitter when Calgary-based food writer Julie Van Rosendaal tweeted about her own butter problems.

Something is up with our butter supply, and Im going to get to the bottom of it. Have you noticed its no longer soft at room temperature? Watery? Rubbery? pic.twitter.com/AblDzGiRQY

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Something is up with our butter supply, and Im going to get to the bottom of it. Have you noticed its no longer soft at room temperature? Watery? Rubbery? pic.twitter.com/AblDzGiRQY
Julie Van Rosendaal (@dinnerwithjulie) February 5, 2021

Other Canadians have reported firm, watery or rubbery butter for months. While many speculated that cold temperatures or humidity could have something to do with it, the real cause traces all the way back to the cows diet.

Van Rosendaal posited several theories on Twitter as to why the butter was harder, from changes in policies and practices to Canadas tariff rate quota and targeted changes in feeding dairy cows i to improve yield or make the butter more stable.

It appears the latter is most likely.

Dalhousie University food researcher Sylvain Charlebois also tweeted about the hard butter back in December, and has since concluded that palm oil in cow feed is to blame.