Last week Arla Foods announced that it would be running a trial of a cow feed supplement called Bovaer® in the United Kingdom, which has proven controversial.

Bovaer® is a product that has been researched for over 15 years and is already used in many countries around the world. Arla states that Bovaer® has the potential to reduce methane emissions from cows and is part of its efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of its products. 

Unfortunately, since it made this announcement, a significant amount of misinformation is reported to have been circulating online, and the company said it felt compelled to address this by clearly and openly stating the facts. 

In a statement it said: “Our commitment to reducing our climate impact is unwavering but we would never do so in a way that jeopardises the health of our consumers or the welfare of our animals. ”

DSM Firmenich – the manufacturer of Bovaer – provides these facts about Bovaer®:

• Bovaer® does not filter through to humans when they consume dairy products.
• Regulatory bodies, such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the UK Food Standards Agency have approved its use based on evidence that it does not harm the animals or negatively impact their health, productivity, or the quality of milk.
• Bovaer® has undergone extensive testing to ensure it is safe for cows and humans.
• Bovaer® is specifically designed to break down in the cow’s digestive system and quickly decomposes into naturally occurring compounds already present in the stomach of a cow. This means it does not pass from the cow into the milk.
• Bovaer® has been worked on for 15 years, and is being used in approximately 25 countries across more than 200,000 cows.
• Bovaer® is currently approved for use in 68 countries.
• You can read more about the Bovaer® product here, on the DSM Firmenich website, manufacturers of Bovaer.

The company statement continued: “Alongside more than 8,000 farmers from the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg who own Arla, we work hard to produce healthy and quality food every day. We work to ensure that this is done safely, whilst also working to reduce our impact on the environment. ”