luc said:
I don't know if this came up before, but thanks to the German Paleo FB group I found this document from Greenpeace from 2006 in which different German butter brands are examined in terms of their fat composition.
Turns out that the KerryGold brand (grass-fed, or so they say) has the best Omega3/Omega6-ratio. Further proof that grass-fed is better...
Here is the link:
_http://www.greenpeace.de/fileadmin/gpd/user_upload/themen/landwirtschaft/greenpeace_butter_omega3.pdf
Since some of the brands may be available in other European countries as well, I thought it might be worth sharing.
Hi,
That is interesting. What we found with my wife that currently KerryGold smells like it was mixed with vegetable oils. At least when we were buying it August, September 2013 (Germany). We stopped buying it because it smelled like margarine. Sorry to say but even when we have some official checks for quality it may be that after those companies decide their own way what to do with the product. And by the way, when You have official paper saying that Your product is good then You may downgrade it "a bit" because officially it is high quality product and most people will not notice difference (missing reference point what does it mean a good butter).
Just some example of what may be understood as butter in European Union:
The product with a milk-fat content of not less than 80 % but less than
90 %, a maximum water content of 16 % and a maximum dry non-fat milkmaterial
content of 2 %.
Cited after COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1234/2007 of 22 October 2007 Appendix to Annex XV.
Normally what I may see on packages it is that butter consists of 82% of fat. According to above definition it must be at least 80% milk fat. 2% may be officially other fat or even more.
After lecture of report from Consumers Federation in Poland I may see that unfortunately practices of some producers of butter are sneaky. Main conclusions from that report are (my own translation):
"...Often instead of butter unaware [consumers] buys product which by definition is more margarine and more often is a mixture of butter and vegetable oils or margarines in changing proportions; packaged (wrapped ?) Usually almost identically like butter. ..."
"... Producers and sellers applied practices are dishonest towards consumers and certainly require changes for accurate and clear recognition of kind and quality of the product!..."
The paper gives examples of what means dishonest labeling:
1. Naming of product with name by default associated with butter. For example "Delicious Creamy " (which in Polish makes instant association with word butter)
2. Placing ingredients table of the product on obscure background or in not exposed places
Papers mostly focuses on margarines and mixes of butter and oils but the point is that producers do not want to label their product simply margarine or "fat product" but they want to imitate butter image and cheat the client to think that he/she buys butter.
For me it is a sign that this market is also rotten and we need to be careful.
Link to article in Polish:
http://www.google.no/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CEgQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.federacja-konsumentow.org.pl%2Fdownload%2Ftesty%2Fraport_test_tluszcze.doc&ei=hUfZUt9vzcuzBp3ygPAN&usg=AFQjCNEdQ6DS-kXou0gGyEvYIPr2tCcF3Q&bvm=bv.59568121,d.Yms
What we see in shops is that it is common practice and I have checked all available brands of butter in our supermarket and I may say that I do not trust any one of them. I am using one brand now and I am melting it to remove milk residues but if I compare it with fresh butter it behaves different so I am not sure what I got there. Recently we bought a lot of butter fat which officially contains 98% fat but still I wish I could do the check myself what did they put there. At least it does not smell like margarine.
)
