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Kerrygold is marketed as grass-fed and all-natural, but the tub butter has concerning ingredients, dangers and marketing ploys to consider before buying.
Kerrygold, without question, is probably one of the best store butters you can buy. I myself have been using it for years for cooking.
The milk is from grass-fed cows and even though the cream used to make Kerrygold Butter is pasteurized, it is the best choice available to most folks who do not have access to raw butter from a small farm or who simply don’t want to use their precious raw butter for cooking.
I also know that many of you out there use Kerrygold too. When I conducted a Butter Poll on this blog awhile back, by far the most used butter (out of 1,500 or so total votes) was Kerrygold which received way more votes than even Organic Valley butter.
So what’s the problem?
My husband brought home the “new” Kerrygold butter the other day. On the surface, it looked fine. Nowhere on the outside of the package was there any indication that there was a problem with this butter. Here’s what it looks like.
I got suspicious with the “new” label, however. There’s nothing “new” about butter. That’s what I like about it after all!
Another tip-off that there was a problem lurking was the proclamation on the label that this “New Kerrygold” was “naturally softer”.
When I first saw the “naturally softer” words, I thought that meant that the butter was whipped and hence more spreadable. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want air whipped into my butter. This is a surefire way to get less product and get charged the same price for the privilege if you know what I mean.
I made a mental note to tell my husband not to buy this butter again because it was whipped and not as good a value.
But then, it got way worse…
Is Kerrygold Butter Grass-fed?
I took off the lid to the new Kerrygold package and saw the following words:
I had become a victim of the Big Fast One!
Kerrygold is stealthily selling LOWFAT butter and guess what? You get to pay the same price for the cheaper quality!
NOWHERE on the outside of the label did it say that the butter was low-fat. The ingredients said simply: pasteurized cream and salt the same as the commercialized Amish butter at the supermarket.
I daresay that this marketing ploy will be fooling a lot of folks who desire to buy full-fat grass-fed butter.
It seems that some butter brands have adopted what companies making substitutes for butter have been doing for years.
I have become very tuned in to these labeling tricks and manufacturer games over the years. When it comes to packaging, I double-check the ingredients along with the manufacturing processes every few months. This is even for products that I’ve been buying for years.
But how many people really do this?
Ingredient Bait and Switch
You NEED to be doing this!
Manufacturers are changing ingredients and packaging all the time! The primary intent of these “improvements” is to increase product sales and profitability. Your health is, sadly, of little to no concern in the grand scheme of things.
Reducing the fat content in its butter will skyrocket profits for Kerrygold as they will make the same per unit for the butter and yet be able to sell the skimmed cream to other companies to make ice cream or whatnot thereby increasing revenue substantially.
If you buy Kerrygold, I’m not telling you to stop buying it. I’m only telling you to beware of this new packaging nonsense and be sure what you buy is what you intend: full-fat butter!
By the way, if you are wondering why I love full-fat butter, you might want to educate yourself on the low-fat scam by learning about the history of butter vs margarine in the United States.
As for me, I will be returning this product to the store for a full refund. It is falsely advertised after all. I had no way of knowing it was a low-fat product until I opened it.
Manufacturer Response
I received this email from Kerrygold following the widespread sharing of this article. I find it very hard to believe that my blog suddenly brought this packaging error to their attention.
Do they have NO ONE on the production line in charge of quality control? This was not a difficult problem to identify. Could we have a bit of spin going on here? Perhaps so.
Dear Sarah,
Your blog has brought to our attention a packaging error of which we were unaware. While Kerrygold does sell a Reduced Fat & Sodium Butter the pack you show on your blog is 100% full fat butter which has been packed with the incorrect inner seal. There is no deliberate intent on our part to mislead our valued consumers or to misrepresent our product although we regret the confusion this is clearly creating.
We are working to identify how much product has been released into the market with the incorrect packaging so that we can replace it as soon as possible. In the meantime we would appreciate your assistance in clarifying the misunderstanding to your readers. We would love to provide further clarity — our email is [email protected] — and we are happy to answer any specific questions you and your readers may have in relation to the product.
With thanks & regards,
The Kerrygold Team
Why I No Longer Buy Kerrygold
I wanted to let all of you know that I no longer buy even the traditional Kerrygold brick butter in foil packaging. Why? A good friend visited Ireland and traveled extensively to a number of grass-based dairy farms.
This credible source told me that while the cows that provide cream for the Kerrygold butter are definitely on pasture and hence “grass-fed”, they receive supplemental GMO animal feed as well especially during the winter months. The local community and citizenry in Ireland concur and will tell you as much if you are in the area.
So, the word on the street is that Kerrygold is not legitimately pastured either.
Butter from cows that get GMO feed introduces the very real possibility of Roundup residue in the butter.
Thanks but no thanks!
While I have not been able to confirm this story 100%, I trusted the credibility of the information enough to permanently switch to another brand (I currently use this one).
I use this butter for cooking in addition to the homemade pastured raw butter I make for non-cooking purposes.
I also no longer recommend Kerry Gold in my Shopping Guide.
What about Organic Valley butter as an alternative to Kerry Gold? While I am not happy about Organic Valley’s policy that disallows member farmers to sell raw milk on the side to their community (treating them more like medieval serfs than the independent business owners that they are), I find this less onerous than deceptively feeding animals GMO feed without clearly informing the end consumer.
I agree w Rob, I think this is a labeling issue and I’d contact the company before freaking out. I just bought a bunch of the spreadable butter and my inside label didn’t mention lowfat. Identical tub tho.
I’m getting so tired of companies trying to pull the wool over our eyes. From reducing the contents in packages (and keeping the price the same or even raising it) to changing ingredients. *sigh*
There’s something not right there…maybe they put the on the wrong lid…Cause if you look at their website they sell 2 versions of this new butter…and one of them is less fat and less sodium…http://www.kerrygoldusa.com/products/new-products/bid/63583/Reduced-Fat-Irish-Butter
I think you’re on to something Rob. Thanks for posting that link.
That link provided nothing except three miniscule little photos. When I clicked on them nothing happened. What information was supposed to be there??
My question is how do you reduce the fat of butter? Isn’t that chemically impossible?
I have no idea unless it is whipped which adds air and then you get less fat per serving because there is air in the product??
But it’s still an 8 oz package…if it was whipped it would be a bigger container…? And if the ingredient list hasn’t changed how can it be different? I can’t even find Kerrygold, but when I finally do, guess I won’t be buying it anyway 🙁 dang!
Well, reducing the fat isn’t hard really. They just change the type of cow and the type of feed. Viola. Presto Chango.
We actually have two sources for raw milk available to us (privately) and one lady has Jersey cows and the other has Holsteins. I rarely buy from the Holstein lady because the fat content is so much less it’s very difficult to collect enough cream off the top to make butter unless you buy 10 gallons of milk at once. I have no use for that much milk anymore. Soooo, we buy from the Jersey lady and save cream off the top, or buy her cream when she separates (which is usally only once per week). Nevertheless, the fat content is very controllable by BigDairy, to be sure.
My jersey girl’s milk is sooo rich and creamy. She gives me around 25% of the gallon is cream. So can’t wait for her to freshen again. I love my goats and do what I can with them, but I miss my cream.
WOW, interesting!!
Interesting, the new package at my Whole Foods here in Califonia advertised right on the front that it’s lower in fat!
Thanks for the reminder of reading and re-reading labels…you’re absolutely right!
Use Smjör. It’s cheaper and exclusively grass-fed. I emailed them last week. Darnit, I loved Kerrygold’s cultured butter (unsalted). That was great to have.
eek! I had never heard of that kind of butter before reading here.
Something I noticed at my local whole foods co-op was a new label on the stonyfield yogurt (which I haven’t bought for years, but used to). Upon closer inspection it had no indication that anything was different from the original at all, just the words ‘even creamier tasting’ — huh?? I think I read it here on your blog that dairy companies add powdered milk to their products and it will still read ‘milk’ as the ingredient. Sooooo misleading. I’m sure that is what stonyfield did. And if I had still been buying it, I would have stopped right then.
Yep you have to be so careful when you buy products, they are always changing them, Stonyfield farms started homogenizing.. so instead of saying “cream top” it just says creamier.
Wow, didn’t know that. I’m glad I buy yogurt from my local farmer.
That’s terrible! I think we should write to the company and complain!
just did jill.. and called.. i think you’re right.. we all should..
Yeah, we just found that out! We were very dissapointed; Stonyfield used to only be pasturized, and was one of the better brands, one we could use in a pinch. Now, no longer. However, Whole Foods sells several brands of GRASSFED yoghurt that still has a cream top (a.k.a. just pasturized), which we use if we need to bake of cook with yoghurt, or if we don’t have any raw yoghurt.
That’s a shame about Stonyfield. I know there has been a few changes of leadership and also product distribution in their company and so they are going in the WRONG direction now…
Woah! I did not know this! I buy plain Stonyfield for my kids. There’s just not many whole fat yogurts at the store. Thanks for the heads up!
Maybe I should try making it again. I’ve made yogurt once but my son didn’t like it and wouldn’t eat it. And with the milk we get being $8 a gallon, I haven’t done it since.
Home made yogurt varies so very much….just keep trying until you get a recipe down that you and he enjoy eating. Personally, I heat the raw milk to 180 and add organic powdered milk to get my preferred Greek-style yogurt, but that may not be your taste or meet your purposes in eating yogurt.
I’m paying $7 a gallon for milk and I use about half of it to make 8 four ounce servings of yogurt at less than fifty cents each (plus a jar to use as starter the following week). I think that’s pretty reasonable for a product that started at my local farm and contains only ingredients I added.
I’ve tried making butter too but I’m not good at washing it and it always goes sour on me. I need to keep practicing that skill.
For those who have made butter and had trouble getting all the water out for keeping: Kefir it. I can’t guarantee you will go for the taste, (which is just like a cultured butter to me) but I have some ‘selective eaters’ and none have signed off on it yet. Take your cream, I usually have 2 quarts or so. Pour in a little kefir, (ours is not overly strong, just until clabbered) maybe 1/8th or 1/4 c.? Let this kefir/cream mixture sit on your counter until it thickens. (usually no more then 12-24 hours tops) At this point I chill it back down before I procede with making butter. Then after I have butter curds floating in buttermilk, I pour this into a cheesecloth in a strainer. Using the spray nozzle on my sink (I know, its not filtered) I ‘spray’ the butter milk out. After that, I whip those curds in the mixer, adding salt, and sometimes pouring off the small amount of liquid that may collect outside the mass. I’ve been leaving this butter out on the counter 24/7 and it is KEEPING. Not going off at all. I suspect the kefir is doing the job. (My cream is raw if that should make any difference.)
Also, I can say that warm season (grazing) butter is definitely softer then cold season butter. (At least with our cows) The fats composition is different, though its been too long since I’ve read what those exact differences are.
Summer butter is higher in beta carotene if the cow is on grass, some breeds produce more than others as well. Beta carotene is a PUFA…hence the softer summer butter. i liked the Organic Valley “pasture” butter (when I was still buying butter) because it was harder and contained less moisture. Kalona Naturals has some nice grass fed products…but their supply is a little irregular…because they are a smaller company.
You add powdered milk to homemade yogurt? Soooo misleading..
I have a picky family who only likes thick creamy yogurt. I found a great recipe on passionate homemaking’s blog that gives tips on how to make a wonderful yogurt. Again, I have a picky family, and those tips make it great!
Yeah, but if Stonyfield is getting away with adding powdered milk and still calling it full fat milk, just think of how many other companies are doing the same and probably have been for some time. I swear, even the words no longer have meaning.
Someone recently told me that Stonyfield is now owned by a Chinese conglomerate. Anyone know if that is true? He also told me never to buy strawberry yogurt because the strawberries aren’t organic and are grown in China, as well, being sprayed with God knows what.
I’m glad I MAKE my own yogurt. Sarah, don’t you make your own?? I didn’t know farmers actually sold yogurt – mine sure doesn’t. They sell milk, cream (I know but don’t tell), and pastured eggs. We also bought a milkfed pig from her this spring, and another just a week ago. The neighboring farmer/rancher provides us with grassfed beef. What a deal, huh? We have to drive 70 miles one way to get the stuff, but I’d drive lots farther than that, if necessary.
A word about KerryGold: I like their bricks of butter, but haven’t even seen the new stuff yet (only one grocery store chain sells KerryGold here in my neck of the woods, and that’s Safeway) but you hafta look REEEEAAALLY close to find the stuff. It’s on a top shelf (which shorties like me can hardly even see to begin with) and it’s off in a corner and usually the store has some promotional sign or something hanging in front of it. It’s almost $5 per package and I usually buy at least 4 or more at once because I never know if they’ll stop carrying it (they’ve done that with numerous things over the years, so now I’m wary) and you’d think they’d be happy to sell $20 worth of butter to just one person – but I guess the Safeway chain would rather sell the crappy junky stuff from BigAgFoods first. So be sure to really search for it if you think your store doesn’t carry it. Ask someone who works there, if you aren’t sure or can’t see the top shelf. I always have to scout around and find some tall fella to reach it for me. If I were single, it would be a great way to meet guys!!
Also, for the first time last week I finally was able to locate the unsalted (in silver paper) KerryGold butter, but again, it was hard to see and I’ll bet they won’t have it next time I go in. I bought 10 of them to make ghee!
What was added to it to make it lowfat? FYI- I emailed Smjör butter the other day and they are exclusively grass-fed and it’s cheaper than Kerrygold. I bought it at Whole Foods. It’s not cultured, unfortunately. But, at least it’s not LOWFAT! What a scam!