In world's first, Sweden introduces ‘low-methane’ beef at grocery stores  

Stockholm: A Swedish grocery chain launched the world’s first “methane-reduced” beef that isn’t available anywhere else in the world—at the moment solely accessible in Sweden.  

The grocery chain, Coop, launched the new product: “low methane” beef— meat that has a considerably lowered methane footprint in comparison with the typical beef package deal. 

Only selected stores in Sweden are selling a limited-edition run of ground beef, sirloin steak, and beef fillets from cattle that have been fed red seaweed, a supplement that cuts emissions of methane—a potent gas that cows and steers emit when they burp and fart. 

“This is the first time that low-methane beef is going out to consumers,” says Fredrik Åkerman, co-founder and CEO of Volta Greentech, a Swedish startup that grows seaweed.  

The package, featuring a cartoon cow chewing on seaweed, explains the benefit in Swedish; translation: “The secret? Cows are burping and farting less thanks to our pre-addition of algae”. 

The brand name, LOME, stands for “Low on Methane”. 

Each of the world’s billion-plus cattle can burp 220 pounds of methane per year—the equivalent emissions of burning more than 900 gallons of gasoline. 

However, a study has revealed that if you give cattle a little seaweed—of a species called Asparagopsis—it can make them burp less.

Methane is around 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at heating up the Earth, and it’s a big part of the reason why beef and dairy products have large carbon footprints.