18 August 2025
At time of writing the retail price for this natural butter product in New Zealand is NZ$10.89. Given ever rising Global Dairy Trade auction prices, it is little wonder that there is intense international interest in a new laboratory butter product.
An interesting development has been achieved by Savor, an innovative food tech company in Illinois in the U.S. Savor has created butter made entirely from carbon and hydrogen without any of the traditional butter elements involving, plants and dairy cows etc. Using advanced fermentation, molecular engineering, and cutting-edge biotechnology, Savor’s process delivers the taste, texture, and mouthfeel of traditional dairy, while significantly reducing its environmental footprint, energy use, and resource consumption. This breakthrough innovation promises to transform the understanding of dairy fats, sustainable food production and the environmental impact. The carbon-based butter offers a practical, eco-friendly solution to some of the food industry’s biggest challenges while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and reliance on animal agriculture.
The technology is being supported by billionaire investor Bill Gates of Microsoft fame via his Orca Sciences investment fund.
Traditional butter is principally composed of fat molecules made from carbon and hydrogen chemical chains. Savor’s new process replicates the natural chemical structure but without dairy farming involvement. Savor subject carbon dioxide and hydrogen to heat and oxidisation via a controlled industrial process in order to produce fat molecules which are identical to those in traditional dairy butter. Their laboratory product comprises fat, water, lecithin (emulsifier) together with flavour and colour elements.
The process doesn’t release any greenhouse gases, and it uses no farmland and less than a thousandth of the water that traditional agriculture does.
Savor is testing their new butter product in restaurants, bakeries and with food suppliers. It is estimated that their product will be widely available by 2027.
Title image via Savor Inc