The internet is filled with things. Here is one of them.
CostCo Butter Conspiracy2024 Nov 24
I missed this eleven months ago when it happened, but apparently a reddit post gained some attention for accusing CostCo's store-brand butter of having secretly changed, causing their butter-centric recipes to start failing. When others started chiming in "same here" it sparked Allrecipes to do an investigation, the results of which were entirely inconclusive. But along the way, we learn all sorts of interesting facts about butter, such as that European butters are slightly more fat-to-water than American sweet-cream butters.
But what of the conspiracy? Did CostCo change how they make their butter? People are still saying yes this season, which is how I heard of this. And whether they did or not, it all speaks to the basic, fundamental underlying issue: food standards in America are old, and the allowances are more generous than needed for modern manufacturing. So whether or not CostCo really is doing this devious thing – decreasing the fat percentage in their butter to the legally allowable tolerance in order to save money – the fact that they can at all is problem enough. And in an era of increasing shrinkflation, is it any wonder that nobody trusts the massive corporations to be actually selling you what they claim to be selling you?
I missed this eleven months ago when it happened, but apparently a reddit post gained some attention for accusing CostCo's store-brand butter of having secretly changed, causing their butter-centric recipes to start failing. When others started chiming in "same here" it sparked Allrecipes to do an investigation, the results of which were entirely inconclusive. But along the way, we learn all sorts of interesting facts about butter, such as that European butters are slightly more fat-to-water than American sweet-cream butters.
But what of the conspiracy? Did CostCo change how they make their butter? People are still saying yes this season, which is how I heard of this. And whether they did or not, it all speaks to the basic, fundamental underlying issue: food standards in America are old, and the allowances are more generous than needed for modern manufacturing. So whether or not CostCo really is doing this devious thing – decreasing the fat percentage in their butter to the legally allowable tolerance in order to save money – the fact that they can at all is problem enough. And in an era of increasing shrinkflation, is it any wonder that nobody trusts the massive corporations to be actually selling you what they claim to be selling you?