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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’m curious if there is a nutrition facts label on the new “reduced fat” butter? Does it show fewer grams of fat per serving? Is the serving size the same as on the foil wrapped?
I too am curious how they’ve reduced the fat content without adding ingredients unless it’s simply by whipping in enough air that when you take a standard serving size, it has less fat because you’re getting so much air.
Jill
I just checked my full fat Lurpak butter foil covered package and the saturated fat content of that one and the reduced fat Kerrygold is exactly the same. So are the calories per serving (t TBL equaling 100 calories). It must be that air is whipped in so you use less? I have no idea. Very very misleading overall to the consumer. I am very disappointed but not shocked.
I’m so pissed!!!!! I love this butter! It’s so much better then organic valley!
I’m so sad. Our Costco switched to this kind of Kerrygold. I was leery, but didn’t catch this. I will be returning my unopened packages. Thanks for the article.
wow, I just bought 10 of them at Publix, because they were on sale for $1 cheaper than the regular foiled wrapped butter! I too compared labels, and the net weights are the same, so unit pricing comparison was easy.
Guess I’ll be retuning my to publix. Just have to fins the receipt!
I did not buy the “tub” of Kerrygold butter, however, the normal “bricks” of butter changed sometime mid/early summer into super duper hard bricks. So, I emailed the company. Here is my email:
Dear Ms. Hu and Ms. O’Loughlin,
In the last month I noticed that the label changed on the butter I normally buy. It wasn’t long before I noticed (while still in the store) that it had very squared off edges and was very hard. Once home and using it, I was immediately reminded of all the lower-quality butters I used to buy in texture and firmness. In search of the reason, I browsed your website and discovered that you now offer a “naturally spreadable butter” using summer milk. It is my logical assumption that you have reallocated the”naturally spreadable” fat that was once in the regular butter in order to accommodate for the new product line. Let me assure you this has not gone unnoticed. Your once soft, bendable butter is now just like all the rest of the quality butters on the market. While I am certainly thankful for the fact that your cows are exclusively grass fed, which is most of the reason I came to your product in the first place, I will not choose to continue buying Kerrygold butter because many of the properties I grew to love (and bragged about to friends so that they would buy your butter) are lost in this product change. I implore you to stop making this change and go back to the original butter with it’s unique soft bendable nature that stole my heart in the butter aisle.
Missing my butter,
Jennifer Baker
Here was her response (which included 2 # of butter and 1# of cheese which was mailed overnight delivery to me):
*In case you don’t read to the end, after this email exchange, I continued to buy the “bricks” of butter even though they were harder, trusting that they will change back to the softer butter as the season changes. So, we’ll see…
Dear Jennifer,
Thank you for your letter. We are very sorry to hear that you are disappointed with your recent purchase of Kerrygold Butter. Rest assured that though we have launched a new Naturally Softer butter in a tub, that we have done nothing to the butter that comes in the foil. It should still be the rich, luxuriant butter that you have been used to.
Kerrygold Irish Cheeses and Butters are subject to strict quality control. Each production batch is tested for a number of parameters before release onto the market. We are sorry that this happened to your butter and we will pass this along to our butter makers in Ireland. Do you happen to have the best before date of the product in question?
I would like to thank you once again for bringing this matter to our attention and I hope the dissatisfaction you experienced on this occasion will not affect you from re-purchasing Kerrygold products.
In the meantime, we will send you a selection of Kerrygold cheeses and butter products, with our compliments and trust that you will not be disappointed with these, if you care to send me on your address. We appreciate you notifying us of your experience and thank you for your loyalty to Kerrygold Irish cheeses and butters.
Here is some additional information on Kerrygold Irish Dairy products.
Kerrygold Key Benefits
– Kerrygold products are entirely hormone-free.
– Kerrygold uses natural farming methods and centuries-old processes to make butter and cheese.
– Cows are entirely grass fed and only summer milk is used, which is richest in Beta-Carotene.
– Beta-Carotene, nature’s own pigment, gives Kerrygold dairy products distinctive golden color and flavor definition.
– Ireland has the longest grass-growing season in the world, which means dairy herds enjoy fresh pastures
– Ireland is one of the only places left where dairy herds roam free.
Irish Dairy Board Background
– “Kerrygold” is the international brand of the Irish Dairy Board.
– Kerrygold is a cooperative; the milk used to make cheeses and butter come from a vast number of small local Irish farmers that meet Kerrygold’s exacting standards.
– Although it serves a global market with distribution to more than 80 countries and sales approaching $2 billion, Kerrygold adheres to a small farm approach.
KERRYGOLD BUTTER FACTS
– Kerrygold is the number one branded imported specialty butter in the U.S.
– Imported specialty butters are the fastest growing in the butter category.
– In the style of all premium European butters, Kerrygold’s higher fat content gives its butter a distinctive richness that makes it an indulgent treat when spread on bread. It enhances recipes that call for butter.
– Three types of butter are sold under the Kerrygold brand: salted, unsalted and new Garlic and Herb.
KERRYGOLD CHEESE FACTS
– Nine kinds of cheese under six main categories are sold under the Kerrygold brand.
– Kerrygold produces only all natural cheeses made with milk, salt and cheese cultures.
– Kerrygold cheeses are made from grass-fed summer milk.
– Cheeses are distinguished by their rich, golden color, derived from the high Beta-Carotene of the milk.
– All cheeses are hand-selected by highly specialized cheese graders who are chosen for their inherent super-sensitivity to aromas and flavors, then put through a rigorous training and apprenticeship program.
– Kerrygold cheeses are suitable for vegetarians because only microbial rennet is used.
Thank you for your continued support of Kerrygold Irish Dairy Products.
With best regards,
Molly O’Loughlin
Brand Communications Manager
Irish Dairy Board, Inc.
Phone: 847.492.8331
http://www.kerrygold.com/usa
We noticed our Kerrygold from Costco was a lighter color this month. We were very disappointed since it was just one day after sharing with family the importance of buying the product. Since we have only started using this butter 3 months ago, I was wondering if it had something to do with change in seasons, change in grass quality? The letter you received from kerrygold mentioned only” summer milk is used” though? If the inferior quality persists we will not be wasting our money on it.
I’ve been buying their regular and cultured butters, but haven’t seen this new one yet. I think we should all write Kerrygold and complain about this lower quality product who’s packaging implies that it is better quality. I found a link to the page on their website that explains their two new butters (one is 25% less fat and 50% less sodium, and the other is just softer).
Here’s a quote from the page: “Luxuriously rich-tasting, Kerrygold Reduced Fat Irish Butter, with 25% less fat and 50% less sodium than traditional butter, tastes like full-fat butter, retaining the same unctuous mouthfeel and luscious flavor qualities. Research shows that consumers want healthful, indulgent, premium food products. Kerrygold Reduced Fat Butter meets these conflicting demands without resorting to the use of additives such as vegetable oil blends or butter flavoring, ensuring a delicious, natural, functional butter option.”
Maybe we should educate the company on how “healthful” and “indulgent” are not conflicting demands at all. Maybe they can lead the industry in helping educate consumers about the truth–a truth that will also help sell more of their product (win-win!)!
Thank you Jill!
Unctous made me feel creepy.
Here’s what I found:
unc·tu·ous/ˈəNG(k)CHoÍžoÉ™s/
Adjective:
(of a person) Excessively or ingratiatingly flattering; oily: “anxious to please in an unctuous way”.
(chiefly of minerals) Having a greasy or soapy feel.
I wonder if this is an intentionally ugly word play or maybe something was lost in translation from English to Chinese…
I’m pretty confused… How is lowfat butter even possible? Is anyone able to enlighten me on this one? I thought butter was the fat from the cream. How do you remove fat or cream before churning?
:-/
-Julia
I saw this too and thought it was just whipped butter. I didn’t buy it – I was suspicious immediately and look the package over thoroughly – but whipped butter is what they offer in restaurants all the time so people use less. I don’t have a problem buying butter with air in it, I have a problem paying twice the price!
Has anyone found out if it is anything different than whipped butter?
Actually, I’m afraid that what’s served in the majority of restaurants is called “60-40,” meaning 60% butter, 40% margarine. My husband worked in the restaurant business as a chef for 25+ years and this is what every restaurant did. It cut costs and kept the “butter” more spreadable. 🙁
On the (very) rare occasion we eat somewhere, I always ask about the butter.
they still seem to make the regular butter….http://www.kerrygoldusa.com/products/butter/bid/62966/Salted-Butter
Luckily, I didn’t buy this particular incarnation of KerryGold because it’s in plastic and it looks too much like margarine spreads- including the “NEW” and the marketing junk. Their foil wrapped butter is still the original grass-fed butter we love, however, and we continue to purchase that!
It does look like tub margarine doesn’t it. Good observation.
This was my first thought: It’s in plastic so I would not have bought it in the first place.