Big industries follow one rule: protect profit. The trillion-dollar animal agriculture sector is no exception. After years of criticism for its impact on the planet, animals, and food systems, meat and dairy giants are now trying to clean up their image. But the real question isn’t if they’ll change, but how, and whether those changes will make a real difference. Enter a series of promising-sounding feed additives. But do they deliver? Let’s take a closer look.

Let’s Talk About Methane 

For the first time, 2024 was the first year above the critical 1.5°C global warming threshold, and this March shattered temperature records worldwide. We’re in a climate crisis, and transformative changes are urgently needed, especially from the agricultural sector. 

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas with a warming effect that is 86 times stronger than carbon dioxide, and livestock accounts for 32 percent of human-caused methane emissions. These emissions come from cattle, and their burps in particular, due to the microbes in cattle's digestive systems, which help them break down fibrous plants like grass that humans can’t digest. With around 1.5 billion cattle on the planet, their methane adds up pretty quickly. Yet instead of reducing herd sizes or rethinking the industrial farming model, the industry is focusing on feed additives as quick fixes. 

A cow faces the camera and eats grass and flowers
A cow rescued from a factory farm enjoys eating a natural diet. Cows produce methane as a byproduct of digestion. Photo - Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals

Red seaweed as a feed additive

One of the most recent hyped feed additives is a type of red kelp (Asparagopsis taxiformis), claimed to reduce methane by up to 99%. But in a major real-world trial - conducted by Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA)- results dropped to just 28%, and that’s before factoring in the downsides: cows ate less, produced less milk, and were 15 kilograms underweight at slaughter. Needing an extra 35 days to ‘catch up,’ the methane reduction dropped closer to 19%. Even worse, the active compound in seaweed, bromoform, has been linked to inflammation and toxicity in animals. 

A bush of red algae is on the sea floor
Some red algae is an invasive species, impacting the health of coastal regions. Photo - Canva

Bovaer: Frankenstein's Milk

Feed additive Bovaer, developed by DSM-Firmenich, is a synthethic organic compound that has been authorized for use in over 65 countries. The active ingredient in Bovaer is 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP), which works by inhibiting an enzyme in the cow’s stomach that helps produce methane during digestion. On average, it is said to reduce methane emissions by 30% in dairy cows, and 45% in beefcattle. 

However, Bovaer has gained attention for other reasons. Public mistrust has led to the nickname "Frankenstein's Milk," with consumers, farmers, and influencers criticizing the product. This nickname reflects concerns about unnatural interventions in food production, fear of chemical manipulation, and skepticism of large corporations.

Although Bovaer has passed multiple trials and been approved by various regulatory authorities, questions about its genotoxicity (the potential to cause genetic damage) were not fully clarified. This means its long-term genetic safety is still uncertain. Additionally, it has not been definitively proven that Bovaer is safe for other animal species, or that it poses no risks to those who handle it. 

Nitrates as a feed additive

Nitrates, chemical compounds made of nitrogen and oxygen, are also added to cattle feed to reduce methane emissions. It is said to lower methane emissions by up to 14%, yet research shows that it might also lead to increased emissions of nitric oxide (NO). As a result, there are diminishing returns in emission reduction for this feed additive due to the higher NO emissions released by higher levels of nitrates.

The biggest concern is that when nitrates are broken down in the rumen, they first convert to nitrites before becoming ammonia. If the process is too fast or the dose too high, nitrite can build up in the animal’s blood, potentially leading to nitrite toxicity, which can cause serious health problems like methemoglobinemia - a potentially fatal condition where blood loses its ability to carry oxygen. 

Cows are eating hay in a farm. Their heads are between metal bars.
Cows are often fed grains and other farmed crops, rather than being allowed to roam on pasture. Photo - Havva Zorlu / We Animals

So, do feed additives deliver on their promises? 

The list doesn’t stop there. There’s a wide range of other additives like tannins, fats, oils and saponins that are used. It is true that the mentioned additives show potential to reduce methane emissions, but many come with trade-offs and long-term effects on animals and ecosystems are still not clear. Meanwhile, they do nothing to address the scale of animal production, which continues to rise globally. And they can’t touch the massive emissions and ecological damage tied to feed crops, deforestation, manure, or slaughter. Trying to green a fundamentally unsustainable system won’t get us where we need to go.

These efforts represent only a small part of a much larger strategy. The animal agriculture industry has funded research to produce favorable emissions reports, downplayed the importance of individual action, shaped public conversations about dietary changes, and even created a front group, the Food Facts Coalition, to defend the industry against criticism of livestock farming.

If we’re serious about tackling climate breakdown, we need to look beyond quick fixes and rethink the system itself. Studies show again and again that a plant-based diet is our best and most immediate chance to massively cut environmental damage – resulting in 75% less climate-heating emissions, water pollution, and land use. We need a bold shift toward a food system that values sustainability, justice and life. 

Because the climate can’t wait, and neither can we.

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Update *14th July 2025* Article thumbnail and header image updated to remove illustrated imagery. Replaced with images that more accuratly represent the feed additives used in industry.