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submitted 2 months ago by Gsus4@feddit.nl to c/technology@lemmy.world

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/34272214

A California-based biotechnology startup has officially launched the world's first commercially available butter made entirely from carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and oxygen, eliminating the need for traditional agriculture or animal farming. Savor, backed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates through his Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund, announced the commercial release of its animal- and plant-free butter after three years of development.

The revolutionary product uses a proprietary thermochemical process that transforms carbon dioxide captured from the air, hydrogen from water, and methane into fat molecules chemically identical to those found in dairy butter. According to the company, the process creates fatty acids by heating these gases under controlled temperature and pressure conditions, then combining them with glycerol to form triglycerides.

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[-] dogslayeggs@lemmy.world 41 points 2 months ago

While I think this is pretty amazing science stuff, the writing is terrible. Here is the progression of the story as written:

They made butter from carbon...

Well, it's actually made from carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and oxygen...

OK, it's actually made from carbon dioxide, hydrogen, oxygen, and methane...

Well, no, it's actually made from carbon dioxide, hydrogen, oxygen, methane, and glycerol...

Wait, hang on, it's actually made from carbon dioxide, hydrogen, oxygen, methane, glycerol, natural flavor, and lecithin...

Now, the source of glycerol is in question, because they say this butter is both animal and plant-free. Glycerol can be made synthetically, but it's WAY more expensive to do it. Also, I'm not seeing any way to create lecithin without plants. They never say what the "natural flavor" is.

[-] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 18 points 2 months ago

They never say what the "natural flavor" is.

A reminder that "natural flavor" doesn't mean healthier or even something you might want over the artificially created flavors. It just means it comes from a natural source and is not lab created.

Castoreum, sometimes used for vanilla and raspberry flavoring, comes from beaver anal secretions. That would be labelled under a "natural flavor" and you'd never be told more than that.

I'll take the artificial stuff any day just on principle there.

[-] Hobo@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I think it's worth pointing out that vanilla extract is from vanilla beans and artificial vanilla is whatever the fuck they feel like that tastes like vanilla. Also, modern artificial vanilla extremely rarely, if ever, is derived from Castoreum because it's hard as hell to farm beavers and expensive as all fuck. The "artificial vanilla comes from beaver anal glands" is basically a prevalent internet myth that gets passed around like the, "You eat 7 spiders a year in your sleep." myth.

Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/does-vanilla-flavoring-actually-come-from-beaver-butts-180983288/

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[-] tormeh@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 2 months ago

It would have cost you nothing to not write this.

[-] tal@lemmy.today 6 points 2 months ago

Maybe he wouldn't have lost anything, but I wouldn't have been able to enjoy his comment.

[-] MBech@feddit.dk 5 points 2 months ago

Also, poop has natural flavour. Natural flavour also doesn't mean it tastes good.

[-] SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world 2 points 2 months ago

Spoken like someone who’s never ate shit.

[-] NoForwardslashS@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 months ago

You're not going to catch me out with this one again!

[-] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 months ago

Billions of flies can't be wrong!!

[-] nurple@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Fuck man I had no idea, I've missed out on my prime years of eating beaver anal secretions 😭

[-] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

They can still be your prime years in terms of quantity of beaver ass eaten, if not in quality. But I think you sell yourself short. They're gonna love you!

[-] qyron@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 months ago

Myth. Vanilla extracts either come from low grade vanilla pods or cloves. It may have been but not today.

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[-] crank0271@lemmy.world 15 points 2 months ago

They never say what the "natural flavor" is

...it's people?

[-] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 months ago

Where do you think Trump is sending all the homeless? A big old wooden screw press...

[-] vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 months ago

There's something unpleasantly psychopathic in emotion about BtVS, but this one moment was funny.

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

They add just a little butter for that real butter flavor

[-] muntedcrocodile@hilariouschaos.com 13 points 2 months ago

All butter is made from CO2 it simply goes through a processing step known as cow.

[-] AmidFuror@fedia.io 5 points 2 months ago

You missed the grass or corn step.

[-] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 11 points 2 months ago

So, like every other butter and oil, that's why we call them hydrocarbon.

I imagine this "butter" doesn't contain any glycomacropeptide, α-lactalbumin, β-lactoglobulin, serum albumin and immunoglobulins

[-] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

You're probably right, but I can't wait to see the egg on your face if it does turn out to contain glycomacropeptides, α-lactalbumin, β-lactoglobulin, serum albumin and immunoglobulins!

[-] Valmond@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Hey but it'll make bill gates a buck!

[-] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

To put it in simple terms, Savor says they take carbon dioxide from the air and hydrogen from water, heat them up, oxidize them and get a final result that looks like candle wax but is in fact fat molecules like those in beef, cheese or vegetable oils.

So their process sounds like it creates synthetic lard, not butter. This can still be a good thing as the extra ingredients to make it "butter" aren't really the hard/impactful part of butter.

[-] iopq@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

No, the fat they create is butter fat

[-] tal@lemmy.today 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I'd actually be willing to give it a try if it's vaguely price-competitive, but their website is all glam shots of butter and people doing things with butter and not only doesn't sell it but doesn't tell you where you can get it.

https://www.savor.it/

Also, they did not do a good job of choosing that name. It looks like there's a very-similarly-named French Canadian manufacturer of butter, Savör, which apparently isn't too religious about using their umlaut:

At Savor, we believe the best butter starts with the best environment. That’s why we source our grass-fed dairy butter from New Zealand, a country renowned for its pristine landscapes, sustainable farming, and exceptional dairy quality.

I foresee a collision between those two.

[-] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 months ago

Pretty sure I know the factory that this butter comes from. The Miraka plant; north of Taupō. Geothermally powered, restricts it to a relatively small region in NZ.

[-] tal@lemmy.today 2 points 2 months ago

Maybe the manufacturer is in New Zealand and the French-Canadian people are the guys who package and sell it or something. Dunno, just did a quick skim of their site.

[-] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 1 points 2 months ago

I doubt it, I think the Miraka plant is produces mostly primary products not the secondary stuff.

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[-] MCasq_qsaCJ_234@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 months ago

If butter increases in price, but Savor keeps it low, consumers will buy it to maintain healthy finances.

[-] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

I don’t eat carbon-based foods. Exotic silicon lifeforms, fresh from Titan’s methane seas.

[-] Blackout@fedia.io 9 points 2 months ago

How do you know when someone is a non-carbon eater? Don't worry they will tell you.

[-] Tattorack@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Oh look; AI has gotten so advanced that computers now have haut-quisine.

[-] qyron@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 months ago

So, in essence, this, but with added marketing steps.

[-] IllNess@infosec.pub 3 points 2 months ago

This is interesting...

Lab grown meat have problem where they cannot create fat. So if this works, maybe this is the solution.

"So you're using this gas right now to cook your food and we're proposing that we would like to first make your food with— with that gas," said Kathleen Alexander, co-founder and CEO of Savor.

That doesn't sound appetizing... Lol.

[-] NoForwardslashS@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 months ago

I would like to propose you eat my gas

[-] IllNess@infosec.pub 5 points 2 months ago

"Eat my gas" should be their slogan.

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[-] elucubra@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Mmmmm. Nom nom!

[-] Bosht@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

How much carbon is emitted to run the factory to make it though? Are we talking a net negative here?

[-] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

I'm not giving up a small pleasure like butter just so that a billionaire can buy another private jet and wipe out whatever tiny carbon footprint savings comes from giving up butter

[-] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 1 points 2 months ago

I'm not a scientist, but isn't EVERYTHING made of carbon?

Source: Joni Mitchell, Woodstock -

We are stardust, we are golden We are billion-year-old carbon

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this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2025
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