Arla boss: ‘dairy must unite to fight misinformation’

The dairy sector must unite to tackle misinformation and keep its sustainability goals on track following the controversy surrounding Arla’s use of feed additive Bovaer, its UK MD has urged.

Speaking to The Grocer this week, Bas Padberg stressed the sector needed solutions such as the methane-suppressing Bovaer to meet government sustainability targets. “If we’re producing food, we’re producing emissions. That’s just how it is,” he said.

Arla was the target of social media outrage a fortnight ago over its introduction of Bovaer to 30 farms, in collaboration with retail partners Morrisons, Aldi and Tesco as part of a trial that could potentially be rolled out on a wider basis.

Bovaer had the potential to cut methane emissions from cows by 27% on average, Arla said.

However, the project led to mass calls on social media for a boycott of Arla products. Thousands of X posts claimed the additive was unsafe and many linked it to popular conspiracy theories.

In the wake of the boycott calls, Padberg said it was too early to say if sales of Arla’s key lines had been impacted by the controversy – instead stating revenues were “in line with what we expect at this time of the year”.

And after again insisting the additive was safe – having been approved for use in almost 30 countries globally – Padberg reiterated that boycott calls based on “misinformation”.

Read more: Arla’s spot of Bovaer leaves Big Dairy crying over spilt milk

He stressed: “Arla “would never ever jeopardise the health and quality of our food. We have followed the science over and over again. We cannot be led by opinions. It has to be led by science, and for us, Bovaer is a solution that can help us produce milk with less impact on the environment.”

His comments come as research by YouGov this week, on behalf of food sector PR agency Reverberate, revealed 39% of 2,260 UK adults did not trust major grocery brands and supermarkets to tell the truth about where their food came from.

Additionally, more than half (53%) of adults did not trust major food brands and supermarkets to tell the truth about how sustainable specific foods were, while 50% did not trust brands and supermarkets to tell the truth about how healthy their food was. 

Trust was integral to the success of the dairy sector and its wider sustainability ambitions, Padberg insisted.

Some dairy brands have distanced themselves from Arla on this issue, by making statements online that they do not use the additive.

It was incumbent on the entire industry to maintain trust, while both the sector and government should also contribute to the debate around Bovaer by confirming it was safe, he added.

“It’s very important we manage the misinformation out there to take away the concerns of people. It’s not just about Arla, everybody needs to contribute to this.”

“Bovaer is part of the future,” he added, “But it’s just one of the solutions to tackle emissions, and other innovations and farming techniques are also going to be part of that.”