A senior scientist at Spain’s national research council has said it was both sad and frustrating to see how “a few tweets and social media posts could ignore and overshadow so much science” around the feed additive Bovaer.

Bovaer contains the additive 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP) and is scientifically proven to reduce methane emissions from cows. Last December, UK processor Arla announced some of its suppliers would trial the additive in dairy cow feed sparking a social media storm of misinformation about the additive.

“This particular additive is approved for commercial use,” scientist David Yanez-Ruiz said.

“It took 12 to 15 years for that additive to go through all steps for evaluation by scientists. It’s important to put the science in front and show the evidence, but it’s important to pass the right message at the right time. How we communicate this to the public is equally important to science that has been done over the last 10 to 15 years,” he told the climate conference last week.