Lurpak butter and other Arla dairy products face BOYCOTT amid fury at cows being stuffed with ‘re-engineering’ sedatives to meet net zero targets

Dairy giant Arla Foods is facing growing calls for a boycott of its products, including Lurpak butter, amid controversy over trials of a methane-reducing feed additive for cows.

The Danish-Swedish company, which owns Britain’s largest dairy cooperative, has sparked outrage on social media after announcing plans to use Bovaer in cattle feed across 30 UK farms.

Patrick Holden, one of King Charles’s farming advisers and a pioneer of organic farming in the UK, has accused the company of “re-engineering the cow” through the use of the controversial supplement.

The trial, involving major supermarkets Morrisons, Tesco and Aldi, aims to reduce cow methane emissions by 27 per cent.

Bovaer works by suppressing enzymes in cows’ stomachs that produce methane during digestion – a greenhouse gas 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

The additive has been approved for use in the UK and more than 55 other countries, including Australia and Canada.

Arla announced the initiative last Tuesday as part of its commitment to reducing emissions from dairy production. The company has emphasised that the supplement never enters into milk and therefore does not reach consumers.

The trial comes as the UK aims to meet its Global Methane Pledge to cut emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.

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Holden, founder of the Sustainable Food Trust and adviser to King Charles, criticised Arla for “resorting to feed additives to maintain positive PR for their dairy-farming industry”.

“Feeding cows potions to reduce emissions is a classic case of the dairy industry treating the symptoms rather than the cause of the problem,” he said.

He argued the real issue was “separating the dairy cow from her natural environment.”

Holden acknowledged the product had been “declared safe and therefore harmless to consumers”, but maintained such feeds were unnecessary for cattle grazed holistically outside.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has confirmed that Bovaer underwent rigorous safety assessments before being authorised for UK use in April.

Professor Alastair Hay, from the University of Leeds, stated: “There is no evidence to suggest that at the doses approved for use in animals, that the additive is a risk to humans through consumption of milk.”

An Arla Foods spokesperson emphasised: “The health and safety of both consumers and animals is always our number one priority and Arla would never compromise on the quality or high standards of the milk we produce.”

The company also dismissed claims linking the trial to Bill Gates as “completely false”.

Social media users have shared videos of themselves pouring Arla milk down sinks and toilets, while others have thrown away Lurpak butter in protest.

One TikTok user declared “Arla not in my house” while disposing of milk products. Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe has called for an urgent DEFRA review of Bovaer’s use in the food system.

The creators of Bovaer have hit back at what they call “fake news”, with a spokesperson stating: “We are scientists, we deal in facts, and we would never market a product that was not safe.”