Campina accused of secretly using factory farmed milk in its grass-fed butter

Campina Grasboter was voted the biggest liar when it came to using milk from cows that spend their entire lives indoors, in a survey held by animal rights organization Wakker Dier. Campina’s “grass butter” received over 66% of the almost 18,000 votes.

“When you think of grass butter, you think of cows grazing comfortably in the meadow. But this butter contains milk from cows that spend their entire lives indoors, often in cramped, dirty stables. Campina should be ashamed,” said Anne Hilhorts of Wakker Dier.

Wakker Dier held the “Stalmelk Stiekemerd” election, or "Secret Stable Milk," to draw attention to about 400,000 cows in the Netherlands that never get to go outside. Their milk does not carry a quality mark and ends up in cheap mixed milk flows, which consist of about 25 percent milk from stabled cows on average. Campina Grasboter, which uses this cheaper mixed milk, received almost 12,000 of the 17,860 votes.

The Campina Grasboter packaging states that the butter is “prepared with milk from cows that eat spring and summer grass.” But according to Wakker Dier, it doesn’t mention that some of these cows are fed this grass while stuck inside cramped stables. “All the more painful because Campina proudly states on their website that animal welfare is of paramount importance to them.” The photos on the website are also almost exclusively of cows grazing outside.”

ERU Goudkuipje cheese spread came in second place with 14.9 percent of the votes. “Goudkuipje costs twice as much as house brand cheese spreads and still uses cheap stable milk in their products,” Wakker Dier said.

The other nominees were Kapitein ‘Echte Boter’ and Vergeer Gouda Jong Belegen. All these products use cheap mixed milk, Wakker Dier said. “You almost become cynical about the packaging and slogans of these products when you know that they contain milk from cows that never set foot outside,” said Hilhorst.