Furious Brits have vowed to boycott more than a dozen of the UK’s best known brands over fears that certain dairy products are ‘contaminated’ with an additive linked to cancer.
Shoppers say they will avoid milks and butters made by Danish firm Arla after the company announced a trial that would involve giving a feed supplement called Bovaer to its cows.
In a list, now circulating widely on social media, consumers are also instructed to avoid Lurpak and Anchor butters, which are both manufactured by the company.
Others include those that have partnerships with Arla Foods, such as Yeo Valley, as well as major supermarkets like Tesco and Asda who stock own-brand milk supplied by Arla.
Bovaer, which will be introduced to cattle food, is designed to reduce the amount of methane they produce in digestion, a gas that contributes to climate change.
It has been declared a safe additive by both European and UK regulators as it doesn’t transfer into milk.
Experts have also told MailOnline that customers do not have anything to worry about, and that concerns about cancer risks are unfounded.
However, social media is now awash with claims the additive can cause fertility issues and cancer.
In one TikTok video seen thousands of times, one user pours her Arla milk down the sink, adding ‘Arla not in my house’
In a list, now circulating widely on social media, consumers are also asked to avoid the world-famous butter brands Lurpak and Anchor, who are owned by the company
The viral list, shared on X and Facebook, warns customers against purchasing Arla and its sub-brands Arla Cravendale, Arla BOB, Arla Protein and Arla Lactofree.
Artisanal cheese brand Castello, Apetina — which sells white cheese and paneer — and Arla Organic are others that make the blacklist.
It also warns consumers against brands who have partnerships with Arla Foods including Starbucks, McDonald’s and Ecomilk.
Arla, it claims, produces ready-made chilled coffee drinks for Starbucks, while it also supplies dairy products for McDonald’s.
Virtually all major supermarkets have also come under attack by shoppers and are named on the list.
They claim this is because Arla Foods produces products such as milk and cheese for many of their own-brand ranges.
Since the list began to circulate, scores of Brits have taken to TikTok to share clips of themselves pouring the dairy products down the toilet, and throwing them in the bin.
In one video seen over 1.6million times, one man points to his bottle of Asda semi-skimmed milk which displays the label ‘sourced from Arla farms’.
Virtually all major supermarkets have also come under attack by shoppers and are named on the list
One man filmed himself with Arla products and told his followers they would be ‘going straight down the drain’
He adds: ‘This will be going straight down the drain and I won’t be buying Asda milk again.’
Bovaer is a compound made of silicon dioxide, propylene glycol and organic compound 3-nitrooxypropanol which is known as 3-nitrooxypropanol or shortened to 3-NOP.
Concerns being spread online about the additive are mostly referencing documents from regulators about handling the substance at an industrial scale.
One from the Federal Drug Administration in the US (FDA) reads the product is not for human use.
It adds: ‘Caution should be exercised when handling this product. 3-nitrooxypropanol may damage male fertility and reproductive organs, is potentially harmful when inhaled, and is a skin and eye irritant.’
It goes to advise that those handling it should wear protective gear such as that covering the eyes, and mouth and gloves.
Claims it causes cancer centre on safety studies that were performed on rats that were assessed by the UK regulator the Food Standards Agency.
This details results of studies giving the rodents a high dose of the product suggested it increased the risk of cancer in female rats.
In one TikTok video, a user with over 4,000 followers, pours her bottle down the sink, adding ‘adios Arla’
Another TikTok video published yesterday captured one woman empty her bottle of Arla into the toilet, before flushing it
However, a follow-up analysis found rates of the disease were not statistically higher than the control group.
Bovaer manufacturer, Dsm-firmenich said the social media storm had led to ‘mistruths and misinformation’ about the feed.
In a statement they assured the public that ‘provided it is used as recommended’, Bovaer ‘never enters into milk and therefore does not reach consumers’.
The supplement is also ‘specifically designed to break down in the cow’s digestive system and quickly decomposes into naturally occurring compounds already present in the rumen of a cow’, the Dutch Swiss multinational added.
Bovaer’s product safety sheet advises people to wear masks and gloves when handling the additive to avoid risks ‘from small dust particles’.
But this is a ‘standard sheet’ designed for workers at processing facilities, Dsm-firmenich also noted.
This merely ‘ensures safe use’ and ‘such procedures are quite common for feed’.
A spokesperson for the UK Food Standards Agency also told MailOnline: ‘Milk from cows given Bovaer, a feed additive used to reduce methane emissions, is safe to drink.
Reform MP for Great Yarmouth, Rupert Lowe, waded in on the debate this afternoon, committing to the boycott of the products
‘Bovaer has undergone rigorous safety assessments and is approved for use in Great Britain.’
Claims that the product is linked to Bill Gates also appear to have confused some social media users, heightening the storm.
The Microsoft co-founder had invested millions in Rumin 8, a separate company developing similar methane-reducing supplements in early 2023.
Conspiracy theorists have wrongly linked the two firms without evidence.
Responding to the claims, an Arla spokesperson said: ‘The information spreading online surrounding our link to Bill Gates is completely false and claims relating to his involvement in our products is inaccurate’.
They added: ‘The health and safety of both consumers and animals is always our number one priority.
‘Bovaer has already been extensively and safely used across Europe and at no point during the trial will there be any impact on the milk we produce as it does not pass from the cow into the milk.
‘Regulatory bodies, such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the FSA, have approved its use based on evidence that it does not harm the animals or negatively impact their health, productivity, or the quality of milk.’
A Bovaer spokesperson also said: ‘This has been developed in response to the need to reduce methane emissions.
‘It is a feed supplement the cow metabolises — that means it is not in milk.
‘It has been tested over many years in many countries; it is totally safe and has been approved by regulators in Britain, America and many other countries.’
