The only supermarket ‘spreadable’ butter this food expert will eat

Australian food influencer Russell Stuart, better known as Russ Eats, has revealed the only supermarket ‘spreadable’ butter he will eat.

In a recent video, Stuart, a qualified chemical engineer who used to work in food manufacturing, explained what shoppers should look for when choosing spreadable butters after he mistakenly chose one containing more ingredients than he realised.

Stuart had been eating Devondale Dairy Soft Spreadable Butter, and was none the wiser.

“I thought it was butter, that’s why I bought it,” he told nine.com.au, “I don’t think anyone actually reads the details.”

A closer look at the ingredients list revealed the product was made with 56 per cent butter, and the remainder included canola oil. After examining several other spreadable butter brands, he found a similar ingredient lineup.

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“All butter should contain is pasteurised cream (milk) with or without a pinch of salt,” the content creator said in his now-viral video.

Stuart then told viewers how they can spot that a spreadable butter product may not be what it seems from the wording used on the pack, before even checking the ingredients.

The first phrase to look out for is “with butter” or “with double churned butter”, which means additional ingredients have been blended with butter to create a spreadable product. Or, it may not mention the word “butter” at all.

The only spreadable butter brand Stuart was able to find in Australian supermarkets that was 100 per cent butter was Mainland Buttersoft, although this product now costs $10.60 for a 375g tub, up from $8 just four years ago.

Australian dietician Susie Burrell recently audited supermarket spreadable butters for nine.com.au and confirmed Mainland Buttersoft was “one of the few 100 per cent butter options”.

She also discovered Aldi Pure Valley Spreadable Butter, which is 100 per cent butter and costs just $7.99 for a 375g tub.

Western Star Butter Blend contained 60 per cent butter and 34 per cent vegetable oil, according to the ingredients listed on the pack, as did Aldi’s Butterfully, while Lurpack Butter Spreadable was made with 64 per cent butter as well as canola oil.

Stuart said any spreadable butter priced at $7 or less these days is also likely to be a butter blend rather than 100 per cent butter, so customers should check the ingredients before buying them.

So how is it that Mainland Buttersoft is both 100 per cent pure butter and spreadable? Stuart said it all comes down to processing technique. This process, according to the Mainland website, is “triple churning” the butter.

While Stuart isn’t advocating for or against any spreadable butter brands, what he is advocating for is for consumers being informed of exactly what they are eating.

Not that butter is ‘healthy’, as it is a saturated fat, he added. But he knows what he is eating when he chooses a 100 per cent butter product, and just eats less of it, or balances out the rest of his day as needed.

He’s more than happy for people to take a “treat yourself” approach, knowing when and with what you are treating yourself with. For him, that treat is butter and Vegemite on toast.

Since posting the butter video, which is part of his Snackology series that previously featured ice-cream and chocolate, he has been contacted by local Australian farmers producing 100 per cent butter products.

Their advice is simple, Stuart says.

“Bring back the butter dish on your bench and just cut a piece of butter from your fridge, and leave that out, and use it through the week.”