Furious Britons have vowed to boycott more than a dozen of the UK’s best-known brands over fears certain dairy products are “contaminated” with an additive linked to cancer.
Buyers say they will avoid milks and butters made by Danish company Arla after the company announced a trial that would involve giving a feed supplement called Bovaer to its cows.
A list, now circulating widely on social media, also instructs consumers to avoid Lurpak and Anchor butters, both manufactured by the company.
Others include those that have partnerships with Arla Foods, such as Yeo Valley, as well as large supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda, which sell own-brand milk supplied by Arla.
Bovaer, which will be introduced into livestock feed, is designed to reduce the amount of methane they produce in digestion, a gas that contributes to climate change.
European and UK regulators have declared it a safe additive as it does not transfer into milk.
Experts have also told MailOnline that customers have nothing to worry about and that concerns about cancer risks are unfounded.
However, social media is now awash with claims that the additive can cause fertility problems and cancer.
In a TikTok video viewed thousands of times, a user pours his Arla milk down the sink and adds: “Arla is not in my house.”
A list, now circulating widely on social media, also asks consumers to avoid the company’s world-famous butter brands Lurpak and Anchor.
The viral list, shared on X and Facebook, warns customers not to buy 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 on the blacklist.
It also warns consumers against brands that have partnerships with Arla Foods, including Starbucks, McDonald’s and Ecomilk.
Arla, he says, produces cold brewed coffee drinks for Starbucks, while also supplying dairy products for McDonald’s.
Virtually all major supermarkets have also been attacked by shoppers and are also on the list.
They claim this is because Arla Foods produces products such as milk and cheese for many of its own brand ranges.
Since the list began circulating, dozens of Brits have taken to TikTok to share clips of themselves flushing dairy products down the toilet and throwing them into the bin.
In a video viewed more than 1.6 million times, a man points to his bottle of Asda semi-skimmed milk which displays the label “from Arla farms”.
Virtually all major supermarkets have also been attacked by shoppers and are also on the list.
A man filmed himself with Arla products and told his followers they would “go straight down the drain.”
He adds: “This will go down the drain and I will never buy 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 abbreviated as 3-NOP.
Concerns spreading online about the additive mainly refer to regulators’ documents on handling the substance on an industrial scale.
One from the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) says the product is not for human use.
It adds: ‘Caution should be used when handling this product. 3-Nitrooxypropanol can damage male fertility and reproductive organs, is potentially harmful when inhaled, and irritates the skin and eyes.
It is recommended that those who handle it use protective equipment that covers the eyes, mouth and gloves.
Claims that it causes cancer center on safety studies carried out in rats that were evaluated by the UK regulator, the Food Standards Agency.
This details the results of studies that gave rodents a high dose of the product suggesting that it increased the risk of cancer in females.
In a TikTok video, a user with more than 4,000 followers pours her bottle down the sink and adds “bye-bye Arla.”
Another TikTok video posted yesterday captured a woman emptying her Arla bottle into the toilet before flushing it.
However, a follow-up analysis found that disease rates were not statistically higher than the control group.
Bovaer’s manufacturer, Dsm-firmenich, said the social media storm had sparked “falsehoods and misinformation” about the feed.
In a statement they assured the public that “as long as it is used according to recommendations,” Bovaer “never passes 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 breaks down into natural compounds already present in the cow’s rumen,” the Dutch-Swiss multinational added.
Bovaer’s product safety sheet recommends the use of 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 simply “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 that have been given Bovaer, a food additive used to reduce methane emissions, is safe to drink.
Great Yarmouth Reform MP Rupert Lowe intervened in the debate this afternoon and pledged to boycott 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, intensifying the storm.
The Microsoft co-founder had invested millions in Rumin 8, an independent company developing similar methane-reducing supplements in early 2023.
Conspiracy theorists have wrongly linked the two companies without evidence.
Responding to the claims, an Arla spokesperson said: “The information spread online about our connection with Bill Gates is completely false and claims relating to his involvement in our products are inaccurate.”
They added: ‘The health and safety of both consumers and animals is always our number one priority.
“Bovaer has already been used widely and safely 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 cow to 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 animals or adversely affect their health, productivity or milk quality.”
A Bovaer spokesperson also said: ‘This has been developed in response to the need to reduce methane emissions.
‘It is a food supplement that the cow metabolizes, that is, it is not found in milk.
‘It has been tested for many years in many countries; It is completely safe and has been approved by regulators in Britain, the United States and many other countries.’