After news coverage of butter becoming harder to melt, possibly due to palm oil additives in cattle feed, the Dairy Farmers of Canada association is recommending that producers stop the practice for the time being.
Gordon MacBeath, a member of the national group’s board and chairman of the Dairy Farmers of P.E.I., said the group is responding to recent concerns about the hardening of some types of Canadian butter.
“It’s just a precautionary [measure] to ensure that consumers maintain confidence in dairy products across Canada,” MacBeath said in an interview with CBC Prince Edward Island’s Island Morning.
Dairy Farmers of Canada also announced on Feb. 19 that it is putting together a working group to study the issue of “fat supplementation in the dairy sector.”
The group will include producers, processors, the Consumers Association of Canada, veterinary nutritionists and animal scientists.
WATCH | Butter won’t melt? Some have theories about why that is:
Canada’s dairy producers are under fire after foodies claimed butter has become harder and put the blame on palm oil. Dairy farmers say adding palm products to cattle feed has become common, but critics say it violates a ‘moral contract’ about the purity of Canadian butter. 1:52
“We want to err on the side of caution and we’re advising producers to just simply drop it as an ingredient in the ration until the working group has an opportunity to do their work,” said MacBeath.
The Quebec Milk Producers Association is also looking at the use of palm fat in feed, and says it will follow the recommendations of the national group.
Palm fat an approved supplement
Palm fat is not a new addition to dairy cattle diets, MacBeath noted. It has been used for about a decade. The supplement is also being used in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
The fat is an energy supplement, MacBeath explained.
“I would compare it to yours and my diet. We need a balance of energy and protein, and the cow is no different. She needs a balance of energy and protein,” he said.
The properties of the butter on your table might change for many reasons from year to year, says Gordon MacBeath, chairman of Dairy Farmers of P.E.I. (Randy McAndrew/CBC)
“Palm supplements are just another energy source for the cow.”
A cow requires about 35 kilograms of feed a day. If palm fat is part of that diet, within that 35 kilograms the cow would typically get 200 to 250 grams of the fat.
In the decade during which palm fat has been used as a supplement for dairy cattle feed, MacBeath said no health issues for the cow or changes to the milk have been detected. He said dairy farmers are in regular consultation with veterinary nutritionists to ensure their cows are getting a healthy diet.
Palm fat is approved as a supplement by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
At least one researcher is questioning whether this is even a problem that needs to be addressed.
Alejandro Marangoni, a food science professor at University of Guelph, said while components of palm oil found in milk fat can affect the melting point of butter, there’s no data to support “sensationalist” claims of a great hardening.
Many possible reasons for change in butter
There are a lot of things that can change from season to season and year to year that can make a difference to the milk products on your table, said MacBeath.
“Milk is such a natural product. From the time it leaves the cow, it’s processed very little and it ends up in the consumer [market] with very little change,” he said.
Cows need variety in their diet, just like people do. (Benjamin Lecorps/UBC Animal Welfare Program via the Canadian Press)
If there is a change in the butter, he said it’s not unreasonable to assume it’s because of something the cows ate. But MacBeath said the list of potential causes is long.
“To give an example, this year was very dry, so the texture of the forage and the grass the cow is eating is different than it was the previous year,” he said.
“The previous year we had Hurricane Dorian and that changed the quality of the corn.”
Dairy Farmers of Canada notes that dairy cattle feed varies not only from season to season and year to year, but also from place to place, because the type of feed available varies depending on what local farmers are growing.
“While farmers grow the majority of the crops they feed their cows, a number of common feeds like flax, canola, corn, and other plants have been used for decades in a targeted way to ensure cows are meeting their energy requirements,” says a statement posted on the group’s site.
“All milk sold in Canada is nutritious and safe to consume and is subject to Canada’s rigorous health and safety standards.”
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
