Butter made from fats in a lab can save the environment, Bill Gates claims

Bill Gates is backing a butter made up entirely from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen and facing backlash for it. The butter has been scientifically made in a lab without any milk products. A company named Savor, based in Batavia, Illinois, is behind the strange blend. It is generating online buzz for all the wrong reasons. People are slamming the artificial butter, asking why one would mix hydrogen, carbon and oxygen to create fat molecules and then add flavour and colour to make it taste like butter? The product is currently being tested at restaurants and is expected to be offered for sale in 2027. Savor described the butter as "Delightfully rich foods without animals, farmland, fertilisers, hormones, or antibiotics. These are real fats, not a substitute." Gates is promoting the butter for its potential to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. Manufacturing this butter requires "zero agriculture" and causes "zero emissions." The company claims the butter looks, smells and tastes just like the real thing, with no palm oil. Also Read: 'Wouldn't want that guy to babysit my kid': Elon Musk slams Bill Gates for ties with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein

Synthetic butter can save the environment

Bill Gates feels that the product has "immense potential to slash greenhouse gas emissions." The billionaire wrote in his blog, 'The idea of switching to lab-made fats and oils may seem strange at first. But their potential to significantly reduce our carbon footprint is immense." However, no one seems to be buying it. Celebrity chef Andrew Gruel wrote on X, "Disgusting. They are combining hydrogen, carbon and oxygen to create fat molecules, then manipulating that to taste like butter. Why do this when we already have butter?" Another person wrote that Savor doesn't seem to be solving a problem, but is undertaking a practice that would monopolise food production. Also Read: Who is winning the brain chip war? Not Musk, but a company backed by Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates

"They're not trying to solve a food shortage. They're trying to engineer one… Once they own the source code for your food, they can alter it, gate it, and revoke access at will… The goal isn't to make butter without cows. The goal is to make humans without sovereignty," a user wrote, criticising the synthetic butter. Others think that it could feed poor countries if it is cheaper to produce. However, artificial food items can have disastrous health effects. Health experts even pan margarine, a butter substitute made from vegetable oils.