Customer Care - Challenge Dairy (2024)

Butter has been around since the beginning of recorded history. It may have been discovered accidentally by nomads who filled their saddlebags with milk, spent the day riding, and opened their bags that night to find butter. Likewise, pioneer wives moving Westward learned to make butter on the march by using the motion of the wagon to churn their butter.

Butter, unlike margarine and other spreads, contains 120 different flavor components! Scientists say the taste is impossible to duplicate in a test tube.

Like many commodities, Butter is sold on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange each trading day. The price of butter is determined by typical supply and demand of the market place. These prices determine the base price for a pound of butter before manufacturing, packaging, distribution, and retailer margins. In the past few years, commodity prices have been higher than historical levels; this includes Butter and also Feed for Cows; so the price for a pound of butter is higher and the cost for dairy farmers to care for their cows is also higher. Overall number of dairy farms is decreasing due to the rising costs of caring for the cows and inability to cover these costs even though butter prices are higher.

Several factors are responsible for taste/flavor differences between brands of butter. All butters are pasteurized and churned, but these processes are different among manufactures, resulting in different flavor and texture. In addition, different ingredients in the feed that the cows consume can have an effect on the flavor of the milk. The cream that is used can have slightly different acid levels. The butter could be cultured or sour cream butter instead of sweet cream butter. Butterfat level can differ slightly by different manufacturers. There can be a difference in the natural flavor that is usually added to unsalted butter.

All Challenge butter products are Kosher approved and certified.

Yes, all Challenge butter products are gluten free.

No. Challenge Butter is made from milk, and all milk contains naturally occurring hormones.

rBST is the acronym for recombinant bovine somatotropin, a synthetic version of a protein hormone that is produced naturally in the pituitary glands of all cattle, including dairy cows. rBST is used to stimulate milk production in dairy cows. According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, there is no difference between milk from cows treated with rBST, and milk from those that haven't been treated.

The natural flavoring that is used as an ingredient in Challenge Unsalted Butter, Challenge Unsalted Whipped Butter and Challenge Unsalted European Style Butter, is a natural flavor distilled from fermented milk. It is added to the cream prior to churning and produces flavor compounds that give our unsalted butter a distinctive, pleasing taste. It is an all natural ingredient that is approved by the USDA and the FDA.

We rely on over 300 family-owned farms to deliver the best tasting, highest quality milk to produce Challenge Butter. Challenge Dairy is a wholly owned subsidiary of California Dairies Inc. (CDI), the second-largest Dairy Cooperative in the United States.

Whipped butter has fewer calories, is lower in fat and cholesterol and has less sodium than regular butter. Therefore, if you consume the same quantity, by volume, of whipped butter, it can be beneficial to your health if you are trying to reduce your total caloric, cholesterol and sodium intake.

Measure for measure, butter and margarine have exactly the same number of calories and fat—approximately 35 calories and less than 4 grams of fat per single pat or teaspoon.

A teaspoon of butter contains only 10 milligrams of cholesterol, which is less than 4% of the maximum daily value guideline of 300 milligrams.

Current dietary guidelines suggest a total diet with a maximum of 30% of calories derived from fat. In a 2000-calorie diet, this means 65 grams of fat. A single pat or teaspoon of butter contains less than 4 grams of fat which represents approximately 6% of the daily value guideline.

We're constantly advised to cut the fat in our diets, but if you stay with the guideline of 10% of daily calories from saturated fat, there's no need to feel guilty about enjoying butter. It's often easier to think about how many grams of fat you're consuming in a day. For a 2000-calorie diet, an individual could consume 22 grams of fat (28 grams of butter) and stay within the guidelines.Moderation, as usual, is the key. If you want to "have your butter and eat it too" here are some suggestions for cutting other, often overlooked sources of fat in your diet.Consume low or nonfat versions of dairy products such as milk, yogurt, sour cream, etc. Substitute low or nonfat dairy products in recipes calling for higher-fat versions. Use low-fat cooking techniques such as steaming, broiling, grilling, and baking.

Trans fat (also called trans fatty acid) is created when vegetable oils are hydrogenated. The process saturates the oil and produces trans fat. It also gives margarine its butter-like consistency.The National Academy of Science has reported that trans fat in food presents a significant health risk for coronary disease. Recent studies also show that trans fat increases the level of LDL cholesterol ("bad cholesterol"), while simultaneously lowering the level of HDL cholesterol ("good cholesterol").Based on this research and the potential adverse effects of trans fat, the FDA requires nutritional labeling for the presence of trans fat in food products. Products that contain 0.5 g or more per serving are required to list the trans fat content. Small amounts of trans fat are naturally present in some dairy products, including butter. Challenge butter products contain less than 0.5 g per serving.