Buttergate

The Dairy Farmers of Canada initially rejected Van Rosendaal's assertions, before switching tactics to what The Economist called "grovelling,"[6] making two statements in February 2021:"There are many different factors that can have subtle impacts on the taste, texture and the melting point of butter, including differences in a cow’s diet from one region to another or from one season to the next"

"Exact cow feed rations are determined at the farm level in consultation with animal nutrition experts and may impact the complexity of butter in various ways.”[1]Recent studies published in academic journals suggest that a strong correlation between palmitic acid and butter firmness existed, disputing the Dairy Farmers of Canada's claim that nothing was wrong.

[7][8] Sylvain Charlebois, of the Agri-food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University noted that consumers initially blamed colder weather but opined that the most likely cause was an increase of palm oil in cow diet.

[3] David Christensen, professor emeritus of animal science at the University of Saskatchewan, stated that the directives to not use palm oil will present production challenges for dairy farmers, as there was no equally effective alternative as palm oil for boosting fatty milk production.

[3] The Dairy Farmers of Canada created working group on the use of palm oil produced its final report in January 2022.