A collaboration has commenced to create a climate-friendly cheese using a methane-reducing feed supplement, with plans to launch this sustainable product by spring.
The initiative spans the entire food supply chain, from Fröstorp Farm and Gäsene Dairy to Volta Greentech and retailer Axfood. The project is rooted in the belief that feed additives can help reduce the environmental footprint of dairy products.
– To significantly cut food’s climate impact, scalable farm-level solutions are essential to bring sustainable products to consumers. Collaboration across the entire supply chain is key to making this happen, says Helena Allard, sustainability innovator at Axfood in a press release.
At Fröstorp Farm near Herrljunga in western Sweden, the methane-reducing supplement Bovaer® will be added to the feed of around 600 cows. A monitoring station in the barn will measure methane levels in the cows’ breath before and during the supplement’s use. The milk from these cows will then be processed into cheese at Gäsene Dairy.
– We’re excited to be part of a project that lowers agricultural emissions, strengthening the sustainability of Swedish dairy products, says Marcus Jansson, CEO of Gäsene Dairy.
The goal is to reduce the climate footprint of Garant’s “Hushållsost,” a private-label cheese from Axfood Group. If trials with the supplement are successful, the reduced-footprint cheese will be available in stores by spring.
Learn more about the project