NAK: Hands off the butter!

(Photo: Pixabay)

Nowadays, the consumption of butter is experiencing a renaissance, not only because it is delicious and can be part of a healthy diet, but also because excellent chefs and confectioners – who are not supported by some margarine manufacturer – prepare food with butter, because the taste of dishes, cakes, pastries and confectionery products made with butter, represent a high level in their enjoyment value.

At the same time, however, dairy products, including butter, are unfortunately increasingly being attacked by misogynistic attacks, which often ignore scientific facts as well

Whether with good intentions or for business interests, this often unfounded information is extremely damaging to the profession and leads to misinformation among consumers. It can be observed all over the world that some manufacturers of plant-based products, positioning their products as alternatives, not only campaign with the independent values and properties of their products, but also use wording specifically referring to, reminding of, and characteristic of dairy products among the product benefits, which can also be suitable for deceiving less informed consumers. There was a manufacturer who changed the name to butter-flavored margarine, “vejgarin” or butter alternative, since butter still carries a positive message: it contains nutritious, healthy, vital fats and nutrients. With the “buttery flavor” label and a picture of a cute cow or a little boy, you can confuse the consumer who thinks they are buying butter, not margarine. These advertising campaigns disregard the livelihood of tens of thousands of people working in the Hungarian dairy sector. Deceptive product names, packaging and frequently read “news” that present dairy products in a negative light can also divert consumers from consuming dairy products who have no specific (health, moral) problems related to the consumption of dairy products. According to the National Chamber of Agrarian Economy and the Milk Product Council, marketing campaigns that cross the boundaries of legislation or ethical advertising violate the honor of actors in the dairy sector and may deceive the consumer. It also violates the current European Union and domestic legislation if the “butter” mark, reserved exclusively for dairy products, is used to mark a purely plant-based product during distribution or advertising, even if these marks are supplemented with explanatory or descriptive suffixes indicating the plant origin of the product in question also out.

It is also illegal when a product that obviously does not contain milk, milk fat, milk or whey powder, and thus not a trace of lactose, is promoted with a large “lactose-free” sign

The profession, professional organizations, and even competition lawyers do not understand what a friendly cow, radiating positive emotions towards consumers, has to do with margarine produced under large-scale industrial conditions. Even without the depiction or mention of a cute cow, the consumer can definitely decide that it is a dairy product or similar to but wants to buy and consume a plant-based product with fundamentally different characteristics. In our opinion, the slogans “*leave the cows alone” and “skip the cow*” used in the latest advertising campaign of one of the most well-known margarine manufacturers, as well as the images used in the advertising, are suitable for shaking the existing consumer trust in animal husbandry and milk production. The National Chamber of Agrarian Economy and the Tej Product Council therefore called on the concerned company to immediately suspend the marketing campaign in question and to refrain from similar behavior in the future, which moves beyond the limits of ethical or legal possibilities, or crosses it. Deceptive elements or elements with false messages must be removed from advertising surfaces out of sequence!

But what is the difference between margarine and butter?

While margarine is an industrial product invented at the beginning of the twentieth century (which was initially launched as a substitute for lard), butter is one of humanity’s oldest food products, traditionally produced from animal fat. Its pleasant taste, remarkable nutritional content, taste-enhancing effect, and versatile preparation can add color to our diet. Among all fats, the digestibility of milk fat is one of the best, which is due to its fatty acid composition, its emulsion state, the structural structure of triglycerides and its favorable melting point. Butter is an excellent source of fat-soluble vitamins, vitamin D, K and, in larger quantities, vitamin A. Thanks to the latter, it contributes to the healthy functioning of the mucous membranes, skin, vision, and immune system, while vitamin D promotes the absorption of calcium, the formation of proper bones, muscle function, and the preservation of healthy teeth. The yellow color of the butter is due to the antioxidant carotenes. It also contains sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus among minerals.

NAK