Introduction

By now you’ve no doubt heard about the feed additive being given to cattle to reduce methane emissions from their burps, Bovaer. 

People are understandably concerned about this feed additive as we should always be sceptical about unnatural chemicals being given to animals which end up being our food. The recent publicity stems from large stores like Coles and Woolworths announcing some of their beef will be sourced from cattle consuming this additive. What many people don’t realise is that Bovaer has actually been in use around the world (over 65 countries) for many years already, including Australia. 

A lot of people are concerned about this additive given the ingredients and warnings provided on it. So let’s dive into what Bovaer is, why it’s being given to cows and what the safety is.

What Is Bovaer

Bovaer is a cattle feed additive designed to significantly reduce methane emissions from livestock. Developed by DSM. Its main ingredient is 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP), a compound that inhibits the enzyme responsible for producing methane in the stomachs of cows and other ruminants during digestion. A small dose of Bovaer added to the animal’s feed can cut methane emissions by up to 30%, depending on the diet and environmental factors. 

The typical dose of Bovaer given to cows is about a quarter teaspoon (approximately 60 milligrams) per animal per day, mixed into their feed. This small amount is sufficient to effectively inhibit the enzyme responsible for methane production in the rumen, resulting in a significant reduction in methane emissions while maintaining the cow’s productivity and overall health.

Methane

Ok but why exactly are we trying to reduce methane in cows that have been on the planet for hundreds of thousands of years and never caused an issue before? Well unfortunately this is one of the biggest misconceptions in the climate change debate.

Methane is one of the greenhouse gases that can play into warming of the globe and is a significantly more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. However, what laymen, climate activists and scientists alike seem to forget is that methane released from ruminants (like cows) is a completely natural process and part of a natural methane cycle that doesn’t actually add additional methane into the atmosphere. 

Now just because something is natural doesn’t automatically mean it’s safe or good (this is the natural fallacy). Thankfully we have plenty of research and knowledge on the “biogenic” methane cycle and how cattle and ruminants are a part of this cycle. 

Taken from https://www.sacredcow.info/blog/are-cow-farts-destroying-the-planet

The graphic above shows how the methane released from cattle goes directly into the natural biogenic methane cycle which actually stays constant over ~10 years. The methane released from cattle goes into the atmosphere where it becomes C02 which is then taken back up into the plants and soil which is then turned into food for the cattle and the process repeats. We can see clearly that there is no ADDITIONAL methane added into the atmosphere. It is a closed loop system recycling carbon. Unlike the inorganic methane that is released from industry and transportation which directly releases methane into the atmosphere without any recycling. 

This makes it all the more frustrating that this food ingredient is being used as we are completely missing the mark on methane reduction. Now to be fair, conventional industrial farms can be a higher source of methane because of concentrated manure. However, if we push for farms to have cattle on pasture and use regenerative practices we can actually improve the climate with agriculture instead of using unnatural chemicals to correct for unnatural practices. To learn more about this we highly recommend reading Sacred Cow or checking out the article on the subject on their website here.

Safety of Bovaer

You’ve no doubt seen the below image circulating around social media. Let’s take a look at what research has been performed into the safety of Bovaer and if you should be concerned. 

There are a lot of concerning ingredients and warnings here so it’s not surprising people are worried. Unfortunately social media is often geared towards fear and extreme hyperbole and leaves out a lot of the nuance and so this has created quite an uproar online. While everyone should always remain sceptical, we should also be mindful that there is often more context to consider. While the main ingredient, 3-NOP, is toxic when consumed directly at high doses, this does not necessarily represent a realistic exposure in its designated use. When it comes to chemicals the dose makes the poison is the old saying. Of course this doesn’t mean it’s entirely safe, but we should try and avoid bombastic and unsubstantiated claims. Let’s look at what the actual dosing is and if this is truly of concern.

Research on Bovaer

Bovaer has been tested a fair bit in animals over 15 years and has been found to be safe at the recommended doses. Within the research, they have assessed different doses to assess for risks like cancer and genotoxicity (damage to DNA). At doses below 300 mg/kg it has been shown to be safe, however, doses above this there does seem to be some increase in concern causing hyperplasia and benign tumours in mice. Based on this theNOAEL (no observed adverse effect level) was determined to be 50 mg/kg per day.

An often cited concern is about reproductive health. Research conducted in rats and cows found that doses of 300–500 mg per kg of body weight resulted in ovarian and testicular shrinkage. To put that in perspective, to achieve the same exposure in humans, a 70 kg human would need to consume 21–35 grams (around 2 tablespoons) of pure 3-NOP a day every day for weeks on end to see this effect. Thankfully it would be impossible to get remotely close to this exposure from consuming an animal consuming 3-NOP – even the cows don’t consume this much. Cows are consuming less than 2 grams Bovaer-10 a day (of which only 10% or 0.2 grams, is 3-NOP). This is around 1,000 times less than the acceptable daily intake of 1 mg 3-NOP per kg of body weight a day for a 450 kg cow.

Bovaer and many fact checking articles claim that the main ingredient 3-NOP and its metabolite NOPA do not make it into the milk and meat of the animal. This does appear to be supported by the research. However, the studies conducted by the UK government do mention “levels of 3-NOP or its primary metabolite NOPA in milk and edible tissues were not deemed as being of concern as consumer intakes would be well within the ADI” – the ADI being the Acceptable Daily Intake of 0.3 mg/kg bw. This suggests that it does in fact pass into the milk and tissue, it’s just at very low doses “deemed safe”. It appears that these metabolites disappear within 3 hours and so should not be present in anything edible which supports the claims made by Bovaer and the fact checking articles. 

It should be noted that there are no direct human studies on consumption of Bovaer (it’s obviously not for human consumption) or any Bovaer consuming animals. Instead it appears it has only been tested in model organisms like mice and cows, which is pretty standard for these types of products. The studies noted that were conducted were relatively small sample sizes (ie 20 cows) and short duration of only 56 days on cows up to 2 years on mice. It would be good to have longer term safety studies.

Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) have also been conducting research on Bovaer and back the product:

“Food safety and care for the environment are Meat & Livestock Australia’s top concerns. Customers can rest assured that their favourite beef is safe to consume, as Bovaer does not pass into meat products.

MLA undertakes scientific research and development studies to ensure Australian consumers have access to high quality, safe red meat that is good for them and produced sustainably.

MLA has spent more than $1 million studying Bovaer over three studies in partnership with industry and universities. MLA is currently undertaking two further research projects to the value of $8.1 million dollars. MLA found Bovaer can have a big impact on reducing methane emissions. Adding less than a quarter of teaspoon of Bovaer to daily intake of cattle feed can reduce methane emissions by 60-90pc.” 

Conclusion

Based on the available information and taking into consideration the actual dosages used and that it appears no metabolites are in anything edible for humans, it does appear safe for consumption.This is at least reassuring that it shouldn’t cause any major or immediate problems. However, history has repeatedly shown us that sometimes it works out playing it safe as more data comes out in the long term. Our general approach for health is based on the evolutionary model, and so if something is not evolutionarily consistent (like Bovaer) we would typically recommend avoiding it just to be safe.  

Plus the main purpose it’s being given to cattle is to reduce methane, which as we’ve outlined is a bit of a non-issue, so why bother with this additive in the first place? 

Thankfully none of our current farms that supply us are using Bovaer as they are all 100% grass fed/finished on pasture – so you can rest assured that all of your favourite Vital Origin products remain free from Bovaer!

Additional Information and References

Bovaer website

Research:

• Safety and efficacy of a feed additive consisting of 3-nitrooxypropanol (Bovaer® 10) for ruminants for milk production and reproduction (DSM Nutritional Products Ltd)
• 3-NOP: ADME studies in rats and ruminating animals
• 3-NOP: Mutagenicity and genotoxicity assessment
• Mode of action uncovered for the specific reduction of methane emissions from ruminants by the small molecule 3-nitrooxypropanol.
• Reducing emissions of backgrounded cattle – combining Bovaer®10 with supplementation to reduce methane and increase productivity (2024)
• Effect of Bovaer®10 on performance, health, carcase characteristics and carbon footprint of Australian feedlot cattle (2024)
• Methane emissions of Australian feedlot cattle as influenced by 3-Nitrooxypropanol (Bovaer-10) (2022)