Norway Is Experiencing A Butter Shortage
You guys, this is an emergency.
Norway is running out of butter.
Reuters reported that a diet craze involving low carbs and high fat is partially to blame for a butter shortage in the European nation, which will likely spell trouble as the holiday season fast approaches.
"Sales all of a sudden just soared, 20 percent in October then 30 percent in November," Lars Galtung, the head of communications at TINE, Norway's biggest farmer-owned cooperative, told Reuters.
Now, the ingredient is being sold on Norway's leading auction website for $13 for a 250-gram piece, Reuters reported, which is about four times higher than its normal price.
In combination with the popular diet, Norway's The Foreigner reports that issues with with bad weather and decreased milk production from cows also factor into the butter shortage.
The Foreigner reported:
Norway's butter, cream, and bacon shortage was previously thought just to have been due to low carb diets. However, the cows have produced 20 million fewer litres of milk this year compared with 2010.
The Telegraph reports some other famous food shortages of months and years past, including a purple broccoli shortage in Britain earlier this year, and a 2004 cocoa shortage attributed to less-than-ideal harvests in the Ivory Coast, which is responsible for providing 40 percent of the world's cocoa stocks.
And of course, we can't forget about the disappearing bees, which spells trouble not only for honey supply, but also for pollination of important crops, like fruits, vegetables, cotton and coffee.
Correction: A previous version of the article incorrectly stated how much butter was selling for on the Norway auction site. The article has been fixed to show that it is selling for $13 US (8.28 pounds) for a 250-gram piece of butter.
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First Posted: 12/09/11 02:27 PM ET Updated: 12/21/11 10:36 AM ET