Big Government at work: FDA asks consumers to return improperly labeled butter for refund.
When President Donald Trump takes office in January, he is going to have many fresh examples of bureaucratic over-reach and inanity to point to when the leftists complain about his ambitious ‘government efficiency’ plans.
The disgraceful behavior of the Federal Emergency Management Agency team members who skipped the homes of Trump supporters may likely be the left’s “January 6th” moment.
Many voters are still angry over Peanut the squirrel and Fred the raccoon, social media sensations, who were both euthanized by New York state authorities after their owner’s home was raided. This event likely contributed to Trump receiving over 40% of the vote in that state, the best Republican performance in New York since 2004.
Now comes news that Costco recalled nearly 80,000 pounds of butter due to labels lacking the necessary “Contains Milk” allergen warning on its packaging, despite containing cream as an ingredient.
Costco was forced to recall nearly 80,000 pounds of butter because the label failed to mention that the kitchen staple contains milk — and many social media users are rolling their eyes at the dairy dilemma.
The FDA sent out an initial recall for 79,200 pounds of Kirkland Signature butter due to the undeclared allergen in October. Packages for both the salted and unsalted Kirkland Signature Sweet Cream Butter list cream as an ingredient, but do not include an allergy warning that the butter “Contains Milk.”
The bizarre recall has left many internet users scratching their heads. The most common comment: “It’s butter.”

Back when I was young, our school trips were to farms and historic sites. We learned about how food is made. I even recall churning cream during a visit, which resulted in gloriously delicious butter.

I assume everyone knows that butter comes from cow’s milk. If that isn’t the case, then I would like to know why.
I suspect it would be because our dreadful woke-educational complex no longer offers school trips to farms or colonial history sites. If so, this would be another example for the Trump team to use, this time when they need to explain why they are restructuring the nation’s educational system.
Furthermore, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) offered an astonishing recommendation about the butter that had already been bought without the proper labeling.
The FDA advised shoppers who’ve purchased a recalled product not to give it to other individuals or pets.
They’ve also pointed out that stores will often offer shoppers a full refund if the product was not used before the recall.
The FDA has explained what Costco customers can do if they’ve purchased the affected Kirkland unsalted or salted butter packages.
Chances are high that people with dairy allergies already know not to buy butter. So, why would consumers who intentionally selected the creamy goodness want to return or trash it?
Now, I completely understand some suffer from allergic reactions to dairy products. Hence, there are FDA guidelines:
Companies have to label food products that have milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame under the law, according to the FDA.
The recalls for potentially not having the notice about milk, an ingredient that some social media users suggested should be common sense to consumers, came roughly a month before the FDA labeled them “Class II,” a classification that the FDA said indicates a product “may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.”
I work in the realm where hazard labeling is important. I have to ask, why wasn’t Costco given the opportunity to simply add a small label saying “Contains Milk” on its packing?
There was an easy fix to this situation. Why was it not explored? Why is a recall of a basic dietary item that was properly made the go-to solution?
I have my own concerns. In the past few months, significant quantities of meat products have been recalled to due listeria. The loss of product and the lack of oversight where it is needed is very troubling.
And I am very mindful of the continued undermining of dairy farmers and cattle ranchers by several federal agencies.
- NYT Pushes “Groundwater Crisis” to Attack America’s Poultry and Dairy Industries
- U.S. Cattle Inventory to Lowest Levels Recorded in 73 years
- EPA Seems to Be Setting Up U.S. to Join the Globalist “War on Meat
- California Climate Change Legislation Targets Flatulent Cows
Hopefully, the new administration will be more serious about food security and less concerned about trite label hiccups.
Forget the “climate crisis” or the “zombie invasion”.
The world has a “dumbo pandemic”.
There is no known “vaccination”.
(although I have no doubt that a certain laboratory in Wuhan is working on one, generously funded by the WEF)
There is a terminal one. 😉
I’d say it is a conspiracy of dunces, or morons; but then I’d have to apologize to morons!
I would put on every product, if it is the case, that in the process of making and transporting this product more CO2 was emitted to the atmosphere than taken out.
Maybe that could stop those fanatic greenies from eating.
Another George Carlin quote springs to my mind (as they often do):
“What do you think about the ‘dope problem?”
“Well, I think we have too many dopes.”
When you throw away the contents because of what the box says is no different than not voting for Kamala. In her case, the emptiness warning label was not applied.
“so the cows mix the garlic and black truffle in?”
Yes, exactly. For salted butter, they let the cows have a salt lick, them have them jump on a trampoline to pre-churn it. Nothing like watching a 2200 lb. cow jumping up and down.
And the Theater of the Absurd that is the alphabet soup of our federal government agencies rolls on, heedless of their profound stupidity. I’d love to see the FDA try this with a non-woke-progressive grocery chain. Sue them for damages and a substantial penalty.
The law is the law. If the law serves any useful purpose it is necessary to bring a case in a court of equity should you want a waiver. That probably costs more than the recall.
It’s probably a regulation.
Several people at the FDA need to be transferred to a joint mission with the State Department in the Central African Republic. Y’all can’t actually fire them, so, . .
If Elon and Vivek are really going to be running the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) then we may find a way! With input from RFK Jr., whole departments of the FDA and Ag may be on the chopping block! It couldn’t happen to nicer folks! MAHAHAHA!!!!
Some people may appreciate this description of FDA expertise in 2012.
https://reason.com/2012/06/30/the-sickening-nature-of-many-food-safety/
I did check that my milk cartons contain a warning that they may contain milk. Yes they do. It’s on the contents.
Just to be sure I’ll have to check the bottled water to see whether the “slippery when wet” and “hot when heated” labels are sufficiently prominent.
Have you ever seen the warnings on ladders? I remember a case where one idiot propped his ladder up in a pile of manure. The ladder tipped over, and he was injured. He sued the ladder company for not having a warning about manure. We have too many lawyers. Japan has a solution–they limit the number of lawyers.
Shakespeare had a better one!
Years ago I remember a lawsuit regarding an older Mooney aircraft with 4 people on board which crashed in IFR conditions into a small hill. The pilot was not IFR qualified. The lawyer sued saying the aircraft didn’t have seat belts as if that would have made a difference in survival.
Another I remember was a lawyer suing a ceiling fan manufacturer. It seem an idiot dad had his small son on his shoulders and stuck the kid up into the fan as it was running. The suit was because the manufacturer didn’t have a warning (basically not to be an idiot) label.
Possibly the best label I have seen was a packet of nuts labelled “may contain nuts”. But I still like the only english-labelled packet on display at a Japanese railway station: “nut surprise” on a packet of nuts with little dried fish among the nuts.
There is the comment that 90% of lawyers make the rest look bad.
A couple of my favorites.
On a hairdryer:
“Do not use in the shower. Never use while sleeping”.
(Nothing about not using it while sleeping in the shower. But that label will probably come.)
On a hammer:
“Do not strike any solid object.”
(You’d think they’d at least tell which hardware store sold Nerf nails!) 😎
PS If you’re using “Liquid Nails”, who needs a hammer?
I was going to ask if nails were liquid, but I guess you answered that for me.
‘California has determined that this product may cause injuries if the user is partially clothed and inside the Pelosi household.’
I have a can of Kirkland peanuts sitting right here.
“Ingredients: peanuts, peanut oil, salt.”
“Contains: peanuts.”
“Allergen information: Processed on equipment that also packages products that may contain other tree nuts, and soy.”
This is what the FDA requires for wording.
The second line is obviously quite stupid.
The third line is BARELY reasonable. I don’t know anyone that is allergic to tree nuts who is not also allergic to peanuts, but there may be some out there. (They are not “other” tree nuts, though.) There are some that are so MASSIVELY allergic to soy that the slightest trace of it will trigger a reaction, but they are extremely rare.
I’ve been dealing with this FDA labeling stuff recently. From my latest read of the regulations, that last line is optional, not required. Obviously, in our sue-happy society, it’s probably safer legally to include it.
Warning: Contains Dihydrogen monoxide, a substance known to cause death.
“Prodcut hot when heated” was on pop-tart boxes at one time. No idea if it still is.
I didn’t take the time to do further research/reading.
How are we advised to safely dispose of the milk tainted butter?
Eat it.
If you’re concerned about eating it, as Phillip suggested, you can send it to me and I will make sure it is safely disposed of.
There are several of us out there, that do a lot of holiday baking, that have offered to take it.
Right now, even with the turkey in it, my deep freezer could accommodate about fifty pounds of it.
News articles are telling people how they can safely dispose of the butter.
LOL, seriously???
Eat it, that’s the best way.
I’ve had packages in the freezer for most of this year. They look like the one pictured with the USDA label. However, the back does declare “milk” & “cream” as the ingredient.
Why did that get dropped from a new printing for an identical product? Baffling.
Also, I wonder how the USDA inspects this product, starting with the cow, the milk, the cream, and then each 1/4 pound of butter before it gets wrapped in the flimsy paper.
Maybe someone can do a cartoon or image of a tree with “pods” of butter hanging like walnuts; green (not ripe), yellow (ripe).
But with a warning label, “Only safe to eat by Pod People”.
How many consumers will throw out their butter?
This is but one trivial yet informative action that shows we must drain the swamp, now.
Only consumers as stupid as the FDA regulators requiring this recall. I would be surprised if Costco actually got 8 pounds returned. Who’s going to bother getting rid of perfectly good butter over this silly recall?
The bigger problem is likely to be the stock held by grocery stores, which they’ll have to remove from sale and return.
Butter that isn’t made from milk is called… margarine?
It could be worse – the Supreme Court ruled in Carolene Products (filled milk) that the Federal government could do anything it wanted to us, as long as we got a chance to vote every once in a while.
In 1938, and no, it doesn’t say that.
The date is not relevant. What is relevant is that (quoting Wikipedia) ‘[[i]n his majority opinion for the Court, Associate Justice Harlan F. Stone wrote that economic regulations were “presumptively constitutional” under a deferential standard of review known as the “rational basis test“.’
You’re welcome to disapprove of the tone of my previous comment, but don’t try to gaslight me into believing that everything the Federal government does is Constitutional because most of what it does isn’t.
Everyone who reads the packaging before eating their butter, raise your hand.
I look at the big word that says “BUTTER”. 🙂
I am very careful to see that my butter package label say “Salted Butter” — unsalted butter is creepy except as a necessary ingredient in some recipes.
I think preference for salted butter is an American thing. European butter is usually not salted.
These topics sometimes lead me to interesting (and trivial) history…
The reason that Europeans mostly don’t have salted butter is due to the salt tax imposed by the French monarchy. Except in Brittany, which was independent, and exempt even after joining the kingdom.
“Brittany butter,” made with sea salt, was apparently a hot smuggling commodity in Europe. So more expensive than the “common folk” could typically afford.
As for America – salt is a preservative. Whether taking the Mayflower to the coast, or pushing inland in a Conestoga, the only way to have butter until you have settled for quite a while and have your livestock producing surplus milk is to take salted butter. (HEAVILY salted. Much more than you can find in any store these days. In some pioneer written histories, you find references to “washing the butter” to make it even edible.)
Yes, that is a necessary label. I usually keep two pounds of unsalted in the freezer, and ten pounds of salted.
I do not eat salted butter, so I check for this (before purchasing).
Everyone who reads the packaging…
Please stay away from it. The packaging can be hazardous.
Warning! Do not open this package unless you are an adult qualified to open packages. Danger of paper cuts, lacerations from heat-formed plastic, eye injury. Always wear eye protection when opening this package. Do not open this kind of package if you are unfamiliar with this kind of package. Dangers may include (but are not limited to): arthritic flare-ups, dislocated thumbs, elbows and shoulders; muscle tears; profuse bleeding; use of foul language.
Product damaged in opening may not be eligible for full refunds or return.
Choking hazard: Always open in a secure location where you will not choke others in your frustration…
Does this mean we must discard the dairy herd because the packaging doesn’t say “contains milk”?
Humor – a difficult concept.
— Lt. Saavik
I Denmark we had a similar case. Declaration said ‘egg’, but it should have said ‘Egg’
Makes you want to bring back the punishment of being “drawn and quartered” – for beaurocrats.
I am just lucky I did not die yesterday. I bought a cup of coffee and the label did not say it was a hot liquid.
And the stupid woman who was burned by McDonald’s coffee still says it was too hot. She placed the cup between her legs and spilled it on herself. McDonald said if the coffee is colder, they couldn’t sell it. Maybe there should be a warning on the coffee cup: Do not hold cup with your legs.
The case was much less frivolous than is generally assumed, every other outlet the lawyers tested managed to sell their coffee at temperatures 20f/11c or more lower than McDonalds did, at 180 – 190 f (82 – 88 c) McDonald’s really were an outlier.
Perhaps more significantly, in the preceding 10 years the company had received over 700 reports of similar injuries from the coffee, and had in fact settled a number of cases for sums not dissimilar to the final award, thus they knew the product was dangerous and did nothing to rectify the situation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants
So you regularly hold your paper coffee cups between your legs? Being stupid is not a reason to claim damages. If your customers want hot coffee, why are you denying them that? Coffee is hot. Treat it as such. Don’t be stupid. Please stop with your nonsense.
It’s a drive through, if the car doesn’t have cup-holders (and in 1992 many didn’t), where else are you supposed to put it?
Also, there’s no evidence that customers wanted coffee so hot they couldn’t drink it, in fact the evidence was to the contrary, most customers wanted to drink it straight away.
I’ve given you a link to the Wikipedia article, if you want to continue posting in ignorance, that’s on you.
There are plastic cup holders that slide in where your window rolls down for old cars that are not festooned with cupholders.
If you insist on drinking (coffee) and driving.
Distracted driving is against the law in most, if not all, states so it should not be a problem. Pulling into a parking space next to the Drive Thru should not be a big problem even with hot coffee.
You must be a lawyer that thinks physics doesn’t apply. “We must spill coffee on ourselves and not suffer the consequences.” Alas, typical lawyer nonsense–content free reality!
12 jurors, at least 2 judges, and for that matter McDonald’s themselves disagree with you.
Decision was overturned when that same lady went to Burger King and tried the same thing.
12 jurors just were 1) angry and bored wasting time as jurors 2) wanted some fame 3) decided to award $$ to person from a big company
“Do not iron clothing while wearing it.”
“… thus they knew the product was dangerous and did nothing to rectify the situation.”
You can’t rally fix stupid.
If you don’t agree or understand … reading it again will not help.
“Do not hold cup with your legs.”
And do NOT tip the coffee over your head. !!
Do not hold cup with your groin.
If women would just stop making stupid decisions about what they put between their legs, the whole world would probably be much better off! A severe shortage of MSM talking heads, late night talk show hosts, and politicians would ensue in 20 or 30 years; but that’s possibly survivable!
If they made good decisions and planned well about what went between their legs, then abortion wouldn’t have been an issue for the Democrats.
Maybe a broader and more generic warning label is in order:
“Do Not Buy If Stupid; Stupid People May Injure Themselves With This Product”
That would beat selling a small coffee in cup the size of a KFC chicken bucket to make room for all the warning labels!
Between her bare thighs with no lid.
Then went on and tried it a second time with Burger King.
Ultimately both were thrown out.
You really should educate yourself.
https://youtu.be/s_jaU5V9FUg?si=MpG8Vl2ICGNEkOko&t=49
Crickey.. now I’m really scared..
It seems my butter may not contain any milk.
I’ll have to eat chocolate instead. 🙂
How do you know your chocolate contains chocolate?
It doesn’t !!
Chocolate is a product, made from roasted and ground cocoa beans.
Huh?
Ghee whiz! What could be the solution!?
Switch to “white” chocolate?
“I assume everyone knows that butter comes from cow’s milk. If that isn’t the case, then I would like to know why.”
There’s your problem, in this ‘highly educated world’ why would you expect woke wankers to know butter is made from milk … next you’ll be expecting us to believe that milk comes from cows & eggs come out of the back end of a hen, when we all know they come from supermarkets.
Woke wankers have more important work to do, like taking us back to the halcyon days of the Stone Age & saving the planet from it’s self.
Reminds me of a clear packet of natural peanuts I picked up at a greengrocers once with the fine detail warning stating- ‘May contain traces of peanuts’. I certainly hoped so.
That’s only a “maybe.” For traces. I would be wondering just WHAT I was eating…
Which reminds me about something I haven’t seen since before Covid. For a number of years annually up would go posters and banners advertising a special day kneesup for psychics mediums and fortune-tellers at the local racecourse facilities and I always wondered why they needed to waste money advertising.
FDA:
Absolutely does contain nuts.
And we are allergic to those nuts.
Warning! Government Department- May contain Nuts!
“May”?
Perhaps more significantly, I assume that anyone with a life-threatening dairy allergy knows every product that might contain dairy off by heart, and if they don’t, I’d like to know why.
Here in the UK, we’ve had a couple of cases where people have died after consuming sandwiches or drinks purchased from coffee shops or similar, that weren’t properly labelled or prepared.
Naturally the blame for these cases always falls on the outlet, but the question I have to ask is if you have a life-threatening allergy, why are you putting your life on the line buying prepared products, and who has told you this is a good idea in the first case?
My advice, if you have life-threatening allergies, never eat anything that you haven’t prepared yourself.
Yet, I say YET the FDA et al have the SARS-CoV-2 / Covid-19 mRMA treatment carried in the ‘safe and effective’ category as to risk, and yet excess mortality year over year is still a thing?
#Covid-19
“Covid era deaths, Dr. Clare Craig”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emmP_wx_72s
Pardon me if I doubt ANYTHING issued by ‘govt’ has any element of ‘trvth’ to it …
How can you tell a politician is lying? His lips are moving.
Trump is not a politician. His candor gives him away.