The improved methods of butter preservation, by adding disodium phosphate to prevent acidic hydrolysis.

The method, patented in 1932, was basically a kind of silage that improved the storage of green fodder, which is important during long winters.

The process includes adding dilute hydrochloric or sulfuric acid to newly stored grain.

Increased acidity stops harmful fermentation and has no adverse effect on the nutritive value of the fodder or the animals it is fed to.

A special bacterial environment in the rumen of cattle allows them to use urea and ammonium salts as source for the nitrogen instead of plant proteins like soybean or meat and bone meal.

The prestige conferred by the Nobel Prize brought Virtanen invitations, honorary doctorates and membership in foreign academies of science.

[4] The asteroid 1449 Virtanen, discovered by the renowned Finnish astronomer and physicist Yrjö Väisälä, was named after him.