Food & Drink

Dairy farmers adding palm oil to cow feed ?

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  • Mar 18th, 2021 9:48 am
Deal Expert
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Jan 9, 2011
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Whoah, whoah, easy pardner. I never said small farmers like you describe don't exist. I have some of them in my own family. I just want city folks to take the messaging about where the bulk of our dairy products come from with a grain of salt.
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Nov 28, 2016
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Kiraly wrote: Whoah, whoah, easy pardner. I never said small farmers like you describe don't exist. I have some of them in my own family. I just want city folks to take the messaging about where the bulk of our dairy products come from with a grain of salt.
Used to be, no longer am. But my parents still were after I left, and I know plenty of friends and family that still are.

Just seems that the food in the stores just magically appears from a truck. No thinking anymore from where it actually comes from
Deal Guru
Nov 15, 2008
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Farmers are part of a business ecosystem & unless they are selling to an entity outside of the major processors they are deeply impacted by the demands & practicalities of the agribusiness system.

Outside of the major processors, they struggle to make cash in a cash-input-heavy industry. It is a struggle to compete.

Farmers may be able to hire help outside the family but that does not necessarily change the nature of their farming, nor does keeping everything within the family insulate them from agribusiness. No farmer is an island.
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Dec 27, 2009
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mrweather wrote: I haven't noticed any change in consistency or spreadability of the butter I've purchased. The stick that sits in the butter dish at room temperature is just as soft as ever.
I notice it being much harder even when unrefrigerated. I thought maybe our room was just cold (although it doesn't feel cold to me).
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Mar 20, 2009
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And here we thought our biggest concern was that we'd be getting sketchy dairy products from our neighbours to the south.
"When someone is burning a book, they are showing utter contempt for all of the thinking that produced its ideas, all of the labor that went into its words and sentences, and all of the trouble that befell the author . . .” ― Lemony Snicket
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Jul 7, 2017
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shikotee wrote: And here we thought our biggest concern was that we'd be getting sketchy dairy products from our neighbours to the south.
Don't think they won't do the same, or worse.
I smile when I see container ships sailing past my house laden with stuff made in China
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Oct 7, 2007
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Kiraly wrote: Aren't the regulation and supply management that result in very high prices for Canadian consumers supposed to ensure we get a quality product without this kind of junk in it? That's what the farmers and dairy boards are always telling us.
I have been reaching out to different people in the industry and I am getting some very scripted responses. It seems that they don't want to deviate from a prewritten response when it comes to answering direct questions about what is taking place.
Deal Guru
Nov 15, 2008
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I just looked at the ingredients on my tub of Becel spread & it contains 6% palm & palm kernel oil. The saving grace is that most of the fat in the product is unsaturated fat (1/8 saturated), whereas butter is 1/2 saturated fats.

Harder butter with higher saturated fat makes cookies crisper, flakier crusts, & cakes that take longer to stale. There are benefits to this product if you are baking. It might not be the right product for regular use on fresh bread, though. Margarine-type spreads are typically flavoured with milk solids like buttermilk powder & contain healthy oils. They have a spreadability suited to bread.

I have always been of the mind that I save saturated fats for when they are necessary for performance. You cannot substitute unsaturated fats for saturated fats in baking unless you hydrogenate them to make them solids, which creates even unhealthier trans fats. You can substitute unsaturated fats for saturated fats on bread, either by using spreads or following the Mediterranean tradition & using olive oil on bread. Spreads & oils can also be used to dress vegetables without a problem.

I would rather enjoy desserts made with more flavourful butter than lard, which is 80% saturated & performs even better in terms of crispness & lack of staling. If we do not amend butter to make it more suitable for baking applications, we are stuck with lard in our desserts. That means people who love white bread with butter win out over those who love an occasional beautiful dessert.
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Oct 7, 2007
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One thing I have discovered in my research is that palm products are NOT permitted to be used in the feed of animals from which ORGANIC dairy products are sold in Canada.
I have been told this by more than one source in the dairy industry and was also provided a document for reference.

http://publications.gc.ca/collections/c ... 20-eng.pdf
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Jun 20, 2020
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What is making Canadian butter harder? from CBC's The National
A lab test on Ontario butter samples found that palm oil in cattle feed isn’t the only factor contributing to firmness.
#CBCMarketplace

Destiny is all
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Oct 7, 2007
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Dhanushan wrote: What is making Canadian butter harder? from CBC's The National
A lab test on Ontario butter samples found that palm oil in cattle feed isn’t the only factor contributing to firmness.
#CBCMarketplace

Thanks for posting. This provides some interesting insights. It is hard to take the media source for this story at face value based on the (lack of) credibility of their reporting on other stories where we know what really happened but the report provides important information and leads that can be used to further research the issue and get closer to the answers some of us might be looking for.

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