Just a bit more trivia on the good old Marg is that it was originally made not from plant oils but from Beef Tallow by Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès see below (translation from French) and note the term to describe it is “butter”:
“A fatty body identical in chemical composition with butter is obtained from fresh suet by crushing it between rollers under a stream of water, further washing it and then digesting it with agricultural gastric juice. The fat is extracted, melted, passed through a sieve and poured into boxes to set, after which it is cut into pieces, which are wrapped in cloths and pressed between hot plates. A fatty body is expressed and may be agitated in a closed vessel, cooled, cut up, bleached with acid and washed with water. This purified fat is mixed at animal heat (104°F) with water containing small quantities of bicarbonate of soda, casein of cold milk and mammary tissues along with yellow colouring matter. This is digested, allowed to settle, decanted and cooled and yields a preserved butter. Fresh butter is obtained by agitating the above mixture until a cream is formed, which is then treated as usual to obtain the butter.”
It was developed in response to Emperor Napolean III’s challenge to develop a butter substitute from beef tallow for his armed forces in the Franco-Prussian war and for workers. Reason for the challenge was that milk and other fats and oils were scarce in Western Europe (partly due to the war). It was named oleomargarine from Latin for oleum (olive oil) and Greek margarite (pearl indicating luster) but was later named margarine
Some of the above is from Wikipedia. Today the FDA standard for margarine allows it to be made from plant or animal oils/fats (amount of fats/oils needs to be not less than 80%). It is mostly now plant based oils used but doesn’t have to be. The Australian standard is very similar to the FDA one:
Both butter and margarine contain varying amounts of trans fats. Some butters have more trans fats than some margarines. I don’t think eliminating trans fats from your diet is a practical possibility. Reducing trans fats in your diet will be a bit more complex than choosing butter over margarine.
Trans fats are made by hydrogenating vegetable oils, this is not the same as heating. Hydrogenation is a chemical process of reacting with hydrogen. In margarine it is done to raise the melting of the oil, so it becomes a spread (when emulsified with water and other stuff) not a liquid. Hydrogenation has the side effect of filling in unsaturated bonds so that they become saturated and this is what makes some of the oils into trans fats. An extreme example are some hydrogenated vegetable frying oils that can be around 30% trans fat.
If the oil is not processed that way the content of trans fat can be very low.
Take some examples:
Woolworths Essentials Salted Butter: trans fat 3.8%
Woolworths Essentials Table Spread (canola and palm oil): trans fat less than 1%
The Flora “Plant based butter” that kicked off this thread is 0.6% trans fat.
So from the point of view of trans fat content why should I choose the butter?
Edit: A number of secondary references say Australian margarine has been essentially free of trans fats since 1996 but I cannot track down a primary source.
Once upon a time it was ILLEGAL to call anything other than Dairy-based Butter, Butter. Have the rules changed or are the manufacturers flaunting the law?
It seems the rules haven’t changed. Just an attempt by the manufacturer to confuse customers. I recommend we black-ban all manufacturers who try the same trick!
Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code – Standard 2.5.5 – Butter says that any “food” sold as butter must contain 80% milk solids.
Almond “Butter”? Peanut “Butter”? Body “Butter”? now plant-based “Butter”… without even statin what Plant it’s based on … Something for the ACCC perhaps?
Once upon a time in Australia margarine production was limited to protect the dairy industry and in some countries it was forbidden to colour it yellow for the same reason. In many cases naming and presentation is about protecting vested interests not informing the public. In Oz the caps were lifted because the government eventually realised that choosing between dairy farmers and oil growers was not a good look.
I agree though that calling imitations ‘butter’ isn’t right. As I said upthread “The propensity to confuse and deceive is important to me.”
The relevance of heating depends on whether you are cooking with it or spreading it.
Spreading: use margarine
Cooking: use butter
Both foods are relatively high in total fat, and hence should be consumed in moderation unless you still work in the fields all day. Butter however typically has a (much) higher percentage of fat.
I did look on the pack for the examples that I gave. What I was after is some authoritative data on the state of the whole industry and possible some insight into how and why it came about.
Due in part to the advocacy of the Heart Foundation, margarine spreads available in Australia now contain only trace amounts of trans fats (an average of 0.2 g of trans fat per 100 g ).
Aldi’s butter/oil blends have been called “Butterfully” since they started trading here. It states on the label that it is a spreadable dairy blend. I always realised it was margerine despite the name, but it is really pretty misleading. It tastes wonderful, BTW.
I am waiting for Peanut butter in new vegan range! Like marketing a new range of vegan apples…
Of course there is also vegan butter (margarine) minus the buttermilk.
And where do we go with pretend ‘milks’ (almond, rice, soy, pea, hemp etc) not to mention the ‘non-meat’ meats most of which are of dubious nutritional value to boot!
There is a long history of calling all kinds of white fluids “milk” and nobody gets deceived or confused about where it came from.
As for the nutritional value of synthetic meats that is up to the expectations of the purchaser to a degree, natural meats have varying compositions too. Although I would not be too pleased with any synthetic meat that was not a good source of protein as that kind of misleading labelling could lead to malnutrition. Kwashiorkor isn’t nice. Why do you say most are of dubious nutritional value?
My policy is to make a note of the company engaging in deceptive practices and boycott all their products in future.
i.e. I dont buy eggs or chickens from Lillydale.
now adding Flora to the list.
