The Globe and Mail Julie Van Rosendaal Published April 18, 2021 Floortje/iStockPhoto / Getty Images In February, Canadians learned something new about our food system: that palm-derived fats are not only common ingredients in the food we eat – everything from margarine to ice cream – but also in the feed many of this country’s one million dairy cows eat. And their diet might actually be changing the composition and nutritional profile of our butter supply. The controversy – dubbed “Buttergate” on social media – started when an increasing number of home bakers (myself included) began to notice that butter didn’t seem to beat or spread as easily as it once did. The theory was that its increased firmness signalled a change in the fatty acid profile of butter’s key ingredient, milk fat.