A bipartisan bill from the US House of Representatives is aiming to restrict the labelling of a carbon-derived butter developed by Savor, which ascribes the measure partly to a “misunderstanding” of its technology.
Congress members from across the aisle are taking aim at a sustainable alternative to butter by painting it as a “billionaire food experiment” that is “riding [the] coattails” of dairy farmers.
Californian startup Savor, backed by a string of high-profile investors (including Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures), employs a thermochemical process to convert point-captured carbon, green hydrogen, and methane into agriculture-free fats that can replace butter and palm oil.
The company has self-affirmed its butter as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS), enabling it to sell the product in the US, while it also expects a ‘no questions’ letter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in late 2026 or early next year.
Savor’s EcoButter is currently being used in chocolate truffles at the patisserie of San Francisco’s Michelin-starred outpost, One65, as well as baked goods at Jane the Bakery.
However, the new Recognizing Engineered Alternatives as Lab-Created (REAL) Butter Act is specifically targeting Savor’s butter, aiming to ensure that it is labelled as “lab-created” to prevent misleading Americans.
“Upstate dairy farmers work hard to make high-quality products that our families can count on. Fake ‘butter’ alternatives shouldn’t be allowed to ride their coattails with misleading labels that confuse customers,” said Representative Josh Riley, a New York Democrat who co-leads the bill.
“We take transparency seriously and recognise that legislation like the REAL Butter Act may stem in part from a misunderstanding of what our platform does and who it’s intended for,” a Savor spokesperson told Green Queen in an email.
“In that spirit, we welcome the opportunity to engage directly with policymakers, and with anyone seeking to obtain a clearer picture of what we’re building and why, as we remain focused on a path to a resilient, low-carbon supply chain for fats and oils.”
Congressmen behind REAL Butter Act single out Savor
The bill has been introduced by Riley and fellow Representative Tony Weid (a Republican from Wisconsin), with five other Republican co-sponsors. Notably, none are from California, where Savor is based and currently sells its butter.
The measure seeks to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to “ensure consumer choice by requiring truthful labelling of lab-created butter”.
It proposes that “synthesised butter” products must bear a “lab-created” label. It defines these alternatives as those that are marketed as butter but utilise milkfat synthesised through non-agricultural sources, and fail to conform to the standard of identity for butter.
The 1923 ‘Butter Act’ defines this as a fat derived “exclusively from milk or cream, or both, with or without common salt, and with or without additional colouring matter, and containing not less than 80% by weight of milk fat, all tolerances having been allowed for.
While the bill text doesn’t single out Savor’s butter, the Congressmen’s press release and comments are explicit about their target. “In April 2025, Bill Gates announced his newest company, Savor, with a ‘butter’ made of carbon,” the announcement reads.
This is misleading, since Gates doesn’t own Savor, but rather has been a lead investor in its fundraising rounds. The Microsoft founder did not make any Savor-related announcements in 2025 – instead, that April date likely refers to the firm’s launch of its butter.
The press release calls it “a fake butter made from thin air, despite claims that it is chemically the same as traditional butter”, adding: “This creation is an attack on American farmers, the dairy industry, and the Trump Administration, which recently recognised butter as a healthy food under its newly announced dietary guidelines.”
This is also one of the reasons the new guidelines have been heavily criticised, since butter is high in saturated fat, something the government has recommended Americans to eat less of.
Savor’s products ‘will always be labelled in compliance with FDA’
Founded in 2022 by Kathleen Alexander and Ian McKay, Savor converts gases into carbon chains called alkanes, which are then converted into fatty acids through a controlled combination of temperature and pressure. These are then purified and assembled to produce high-quality short-, medium- and long-chain triglycerides (SMLCT) to replace conventional fats in a variety of food applications.
These lipids are “chemically identical” to conventional fats, just in varying concentrations. The main ingredients in Savor’s butter are MLCT oil and its dairy fat formulation, which are complemented with water, sea salt, sunflower lecithin, natural flavour and beta carotene.
“Savor was founded to find the most sustainable and resilient way to feed humanity, and that mission starts with rethinking how fats and oils are made. Our Carbon Crafted platform produces customisable fatty acid profiles directly from simple and abundant molecules, including captured carbon dioxide, water, and methane,” its spokesperson said.
“Billionaire food experiments are no longer hypothetical. Bill Gates is currently funding a carbon-based, lab-grown butter project created from carbon dioxide instead of milk from a cow, and it is happening in Illinois, right in the backyard of America’s Dairyland,” said Wied.
“America’s dairy farmers put in the work every day to keep our families fed, our rural communities strong, and our agricultural heritage alive. They should not have to compete with products that hide behind vague or misleading labels,” he added.
In response, Savor’s representative told Green Queen: “Our products will always be labelled in compliance with FDA requirements and all applicable laws.”
The firm noted that its butter alternative is already available to select restaurants and bakeries. “Beyond that proof of concept, we have and continue to develop alternatives to imported ingredients like tropical oils, which are subject to volatile pricing, tariffs, and supply disruptions,” its spokesperson explained.
“Building a domestic, dependable source for these critical inputs is central to our work, and a meaningful part of how Savor supports American food manufacturers and businesses. This is further evident through our collaborations with a growing number of industry partners,” they added.
The bill has a long way to go, and many similar labelling proposals targeting animal-free products have largely been unsuccessful. It won’t be a surprise if this faces a similar fate.
