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A block of butter with a slice cut off

Butter, salted

Checked by us One serving: 10 g (about 2 pats of butter) · 72 kcal

Little of the nutrients we score, per serving.

A lot per serving: saturated and trans fat. Worth knowing: dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs.

Good for

How we counted this

What one serving (10 g) gives you.

Your body needs enough of each of these. Past enough, more doesn’t help. Amounts are what the food databases list, not what your body absorbs, unless a row says it was measured.

The words: “A lot” means one serving gives 20% or more of Health Canada’s daily amount, “Some” 10% to 19%, “A little” 2% to 9%, “Almost none” under 2%. Strongest word first; within a word, protein and fibre lead, then the biggest share.

A milligram (mg) is a thousandth of a gram, and a microgram (µg) a thousandth of a milligram: 1,000 µg make 1 mg.

No nutrient we score reaches “some” in one serving. The rest, at “a little” or less, is below.

    22 more nutrients at a little or less

    Watch out

    How we counted this
    Checked for preformed vitamin A, cadmium and lead: fine at normal amounts.
    • You’d need about 45 servings in a day of this food alone to reach the limit.

      Learn more

      One serving carries 67.1 µg

      How we got this

      450 g a day reaches the limit

      The dataset’s rating: Nothing to watch: under the limit

      No cap: the tolerable upper intake level for preformed vitamin A is 3000 µg RE/day for adults (EFSA 2024). A 10.0 g serving carries 67.1 µg retinol (a listed value), 2.2% of it. No adult average intake is recorded, so only the serving's share is shown.

      USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy, 2018-04 · grade C

      Every food with preformed vitamin A (retinol)

    • Cadmium

      Nothing to watch

      You’d need more than 100 servings a day, every day, of this food alone to use up what an average adult’s intake leaves under the limit.

      Learn more

      One serving carries 0 µg

      How we got this

      A serving a day adds 0% to what an average adult already takes in: a share of that intake, not of the limit. With that serving every day, an average adult would be at about 71% of the limit.

      An average adult already takes in about 71% of the limit. One serving a day fits in the room left.

      Counted from zero, with no allowance for what adults already take in from other food, 350,000 g a week would reach the limit.

      Why this rating: Eating it daily comes to 70 g a week, which stays within the 100,000 g of room left before the limit.

      The dataset’s rating: Nothing to watch: under the limit

      A daily serving adds 0.028% to an average adult's cadmium intake (EFSA 2012 adult median, 1.77 µg/kg body weight/week; Canadian adults in 2007: 1.2-1.75), far from doubling it, so no cap.

      Health Canada, Canadian Total Diet Study – Trace Elements (2005–2018 composites) · grade A

      Every food with cadmium

    • Lead

      Nothing to watch

      You’d need more than 100 servings a day, every day, of this food alone to double the lead an average adult already gets. No dose is known to be safe, so doubling is where we flag.

      Learn more

      A serving a day adds 0.1% to what an average adult already takes in. There is no limit to take a share of.

      One serving carries 0.03 µg

      How we got this

      The dataset’s rating: Nothing to watch: doesn’t double average intake

      No cap: a 10.0 g serving adds 0.025 µg, 0.07% of the average adult's lead intake of 35 µg/day (EFSA), far from doubling it. No safe threshold is set for lead. Health Canada Total Diet Study, mean of 17 composites (1999-2018).

      Health Canada, Canadian Total Diet Study – Trace Elements (2005–2018 composites) · grade A

      Every food with lead

    Worth knowing

    No limit applies, so none is rated.

    • Sodium and saturated fat

      One 10 g serving, as a share of the label’s daily value: sodium 64 mg (3%) · saturated and trans fat 5.5 g (27%)

      Learn more

      We name one of these whenever a serving gives 20% or more of its daily value on Health Canada’s Table of Daily Values (sodium 2,300 mg, saturated and trans fat together 20 g), the same 20% that reads “a lot” under Good for. The same rule applies to every food. Daily values are what labels count against, not limits.

      Source: Health Canada, Table of Daily Values (nutrition labelling)

    • Sugar

      0 g of sugar in a 10 g serving, natural and added together.

      Learn more

      Shown, not rated. The food tables we read give total sugar, and few give added sugar, so the site can’t yet tell sugar added in making a food from the sugar in fruit or milk.

    Also measured in it

    Figures from the dataset. None has a limit to be rated against, so none is a verdict.

    • Lactose: 0.6–0.7 g per 100 g, so about 0.06–0.069 g in a 10 g serving. · PubMed 28649541, UK food tables (CoFID 2021) · grade A, B

    Also checked (nothing to act on) · 2

    Noted for context, or not measured in this food yet.

    • Context only (aflatoxin M1 is shown as context): no grams figure, no rating. A 30-sample foreign survey with no detects is not a Canadian occurrence figure.

    • No grams figure: the basis is WHO2005 and per g fat, and the limit is WHO2022. Context beside the 2014-2019 and EFSA rows. Min 0.0007, max 1.8689 pg WHO 2005 toxic equivalents/g fat in the report.

    Better options

    How we counted this

    “Better” here always means better at something the row names: more of one nutrient, more nutrients per serving, or the goal you pick. It never means better in every way.

    Every amount below is for the same weight, 10 g, the size of one serving of this food, so a swap compares like with like. A serving of another food can be bigger or smaller.

    Compared with the other butters, oils and dressings we’ve checked.

    More nutrients per serving, counted together

    The other butters, oils and dressings we’ve checked with more nutrients per serving than this one, counting at most 100 kcal. One score ranks them all, so the same few often lead.

    • Canola oil
      • More omega-3: ALA (914 mg vs 31.5 mg)
      • More vitamin E (1.73 mg vs 0.23 mg)
    • Soybean oil
      • More omega-3: ALA (679 mg vs 31.5 mg)
      • More vitamin K1 (18.4 µg vs 0.7 µg)
    • Corn oilMore vitamin E (2.26 mg vs 0.23 mg)

    Where the calcium card measured that less calcium gets in than from milk, calcium counts for less; everything else is as listed.

    Your goal

    Your goal changes only this list, not what the food gives you or what to watch.

    Losing weight: fewer calories, and more nutrients, protein and fibre for each calorie.

    • Canola oil
      • More omega-3: ALA (914 mg vs 31.5 mg)
      • More vitamin E (1.73 mg vs 0.23 mg)
    • Soybean oil
      • More omega-3: ALA (679 mg vs 31.5 mg)
      • More vitamin K1 (18.4 µg vs 0.7 µg)
    • Corn oilMore vitamin E (2.26 mg vs 0.23 mg)

    Bring a tracker export or describe your usual week. The same rules check all of it.

    The numbers

    Open every value

    Name in the database: Butter, salted

    How the serving was set: 10 g (Health Canada TRA row H.1: butter, margarine, shortening, lard, solid coconut oil, butter-flavoured spread; label size '# tsp (10 g)')

    Listed nutrients, per 100 g

    For each nutrient, the value this page uses is marked “used”. A row marked “second database” is another database’s figure for a matching food, kept so you can see how far databases disagree (they can differ in the samples analysed, lab methods and rounding). Its own cells are worked out from it, but none of the page’s words or scores are.

    NutrientPer servingPer 100 caloriesHowSourceGrade
    Omega-3: ALA0.315 g0.03 g0.04 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Calcium24 mg2.4 mg3.35 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    18 mg1.8 mg2.51 mgsecond database · not usedUK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    24 mg2.4 mg3.35 mgcopy of USDA · not usedCanadian Nutrient File 2026 #118C
    Carbohydrate0.06 g0.01 g0.01 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Choline18.8 mg1.88 mg2.62 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Energy717 kcal71.7 kcal–FDC Energy (kcal) usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy)–
    Omega-3: EPA + DHA0 g0 g0 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Fat81.11 g8.11 g11.31 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    82.2 g8.22 g11.46 gsecond database · not usedUK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    Cholesterol215 mg21.5 mg29.99 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Fatty acids, total saturated51.368 g5.14 g7.16 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Fibre0 g0 g0 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    0 g0 g0 gsecond database · not usedUK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    Folate3 µg0.3 µg0.42 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Iron0.02 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Magnesium2 mg0.2 mg0.28 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    2 mg0.2 mg0.28 mgsecond database · not usedUK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    Niacin (B3, niacin equivalents)0.242 mg0.02 mg0.03 mglisted usedCanadian Nutrient File 2026 #118C
    Phosphorus24 mg2.4 mg3.35 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    23 mg2.3 mg3.21 mgsecond database · not usedUK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    Potassium24 mg2.4 mg3.35 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    27 mg2.7 mg3.77 mgsecond database · not usedUK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    Protein0.85 g0.09 g0.12 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    0.6 g0.06 g0.08 gsecond database · not usedUK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    Riboflavin (B2)0.034 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    0.07 mg0.01 mg0.01 mgsecond database · not used · 2.1×UK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    Selenium1 µg0.1 µg0.14 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Sodium643 mg64.3 mg89.68 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    730 mg73 mg101.81 mgsecond database · not usedUK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    Sugars0.06 g0.01 g0.01 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    0.6 g0.06 g0.08 gsecond database · not used · 10×UK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    Thiamin (B1)0.005 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Vitamin A684 µg68.4 µg95.4 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Vitamin B120.17 µg0.02 µg0.02 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    0.3 µg0.03 µg0.04 µgsecond database · not usedUK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    Vitamin B60.003 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Vitamin C0 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Vitamin D0 µg0 µg0 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    0.9 µg0.09 µg0.13 µgsecond database · not usedUK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    Vitamin E2.32 mg0.23 mg0.32 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    1.85 mg0.19 mg0.26 mgsecond database · not usedUK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    Vitamin K17 µg0.7 µg0.98 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    7.4 µg0.74 µg1.03 µgsecond database · not usedUK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    Water16.17 g1.62 g2.26 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    14.9 g1.49 g2.08 gsecond database · not usedUK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    Zinc0.09 mg0.01 mg0.01 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    0.1 mg0.01 mg0.01 mgsecond database · not usedUK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    NutrientPer 100 gPer servingPer 100 caloriesHowSourceGrade
    Beta-carotene158 µg15.8 µg22.04 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    614 µg61.4 µg85.63 µgsecond database · not used · 3.9×UK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    Copper0 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    0.01 mg0 mg0 mgsecond database · not usedUK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    Ash2.11 g0.21 g0.29 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Alcohol, ethyl0 g0 g0 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Caffeine0 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Theobromine0 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Energy2,999 kj299.9 kj418.27 kjlisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Fluoride, F2.8 µg0.28 µg0.39 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Vitamin A, IU2,499 iu249.9 iu348.54 iulisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Carotene, alpha0 µg0 µg0 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Vitamin D (D2 + D3), International Units0 iu0 iu0 iulisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol)0 µg0 µg0 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol)0 µg0 µg0 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Cryptoxanthin, beta0 µg0 µg0 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Lycopene0 µg0 µg0 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Tocopherol, beta0 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Tocopherol, gamma0 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Tocopherol, delta0 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Tocotrienol, alpha0 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Tocotrienol, beta0 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Tocotrienol, gamma0 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Tocotrienol, delta0 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Folic acid0 µg0 µg0 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Folate, food3 µg0.3 µg0.42 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Folate, DFE3 µg0.3 µg0.42 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Betaine0.3 mg0.03 mg0.04 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Tryptophan0.012 g0 g0 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Threonine0.038 g0 g0.01 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Isoleucine0.051 g0.01 g0.01 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Leucine0.083 g0.01 g0.01 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Lysine0.067 g0.01 g0.01 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Methionine0.021 g0 g0 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Cystine0.008 g0 g0 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Phenylalanine0.041 g0 g0.01 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Tyrosine0.041 g0 g0.01 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Valine0.057 g0.01 g0.01 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Arginine0.031 g0 g0 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Histidine0.023 g0 g0 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Alanine0.029 g0 g0 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Aspartic acid0.064 g0.01 g0.01 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Glutamic acid0.178 g0.02 g0.02 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Glycine0.018 g0 g0 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Proline0.082 g0.01 g0.01 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Serine0.046 g0 g0.01 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Vitamin E, added0 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Vitamin B-12, added0 µg0 µg0 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Fatty acids, total trans3.278 g0.33 g0.46 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    SFA 4:03.226 g0.32 g0.45 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    SFA 6:02.007 g0.2 g0.28 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    SFA 8:01.19 g0.12 g0.17 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    SFA 10:02.529 g0.25 g0.35 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    SFA 12:02.587 g0.26 g0.36 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    SFA 14:07.436 g0.74 g1.04 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    SFA 16:021.697 g2.17 g3.03 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    SFA 18:09.999 g1 g1.39 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    SFA 20:00.138 g0.01 g0.02 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    MUFA 18:119.961 g2 g2.78 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    PUFA 18:22.728 g0.27 g0.38 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    PUFA 18:30.315 g0.03 g0.04 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    PUFA 20:40 g0 g0 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    PUFA 22:6 n-3 (DHA)0 g0 g0 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    MUFA 16:10.961 g0.1 g0.13 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    PUFA 18:40 g0 g0 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    MUFA 20:10.1 g0.01 g0.01 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    PUFA 20:5 n-3 (EPA)0 g0 g0 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    MUFA 22:10 g0 g0 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    PUFA 22:5 n-3 (DPA)0 g0 g0 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Stigmasterol0 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Campesterol0 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Beta-sitosterol4 mg0.4 mg0.56 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Fatty acids, total monounsaturated21.021 g2.1 g2.93 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated3.043 g0.3 g0.42 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    SFA 17:00.56 g0.06 g0.08 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    TFA 18:1 t2.982 g0.3 g0.42 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    PUFA 18:2 i0.296 g0.03 g0.04 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    PUFA 18:2 CLAs0.267 g0.03 g0.04 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    MUFA 16:1 c0.961 g0.1 g0.13 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    MUFA 18:1 c16.978 g1.7 g2.37 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    PUFA 18:2 n-6 c,c2.166 g0.22 g0.3 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Fatty acids, total trans-monoenoic2.982 g0.3 g0.42 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Fatty acids, total trans-polyenoic0.296 g0.03 g0.04 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    PUFA 18:3 n-3 c,c,c (ALA)0.315 g0.03 g0.04 glisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Lutein + zeaxanthin0 µg0 µg0 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Manganese0 mg0 mg0 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Niacin (B3, preformed)0.042 mg0 mg0.01 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    Pantothenic acid (B5)0.11 mg0.01 mg0.02 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    0.05 mg0.01 mg0.01 mgsecond database · not used · 2.2×UK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C
    Retinol671 µg67.1 µg93.58 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #173410C
    958 µg95.8 µg133.61 µgsecond database · not usedUK food tables (CoFID 2021) #17-685C

    Change the amount to rescale the first column. Nutrients a database doesn't list are missing, not zero.

    Hazard rows as the dataset rates them

    • Aflatoxin M1 · Context · Context only (aflatoxin M1 is shown as context): no grams figure, no rating. A 30-sample foreign survey with no detects is not a Canadian occurrence figure. · PubMed 21873812 · B
    • Cadmium · Nothing to watch: under the limit · A daily serving adds 0.028% to an average adult's cadmium intake (EFSA 2012 adult median, 1.77 µg/kg body weight/week; Canadian adults in 2007: 1.2-1.75), far from doubling it, so no cap. · Health Canada Total Diet Study, trace elements · A
    • Dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs · Worth knowing · Flagged for women who are or may become pregnant and for breastfeeding women; no cap for other adults. EFSA's 2026 tolerable weekly intake for dioxins and PCBs is 0.6 pg/kg body weight/week, 42 pg for 70 kg. On the lower-bound mean of CFIA's 89 Canadian butter samples (0.0619 pg/g; 74% of congener results were below detection), about 678.5 g of butter a week eaten alone would reach it. Non-detects count as zero here, so the true amount could be lower. A daily 10 g serving is 10.3% of the weekly limit and adds 1.1% to 3.3% to the average adult's weekly exposure, far from doubling it. · CFIA dioxins survey (2014–2019) · A
    • Dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs · Worth knowing · Flagged for women who are or may become pregnant and for breastfeeding women; no cap for other adults. EFSA's 2026 tolerable weekly intake for dioxins and PCBs is 0.6 pg/kg body weight/week, 42 pg for 70 kg. On the upper-bound mean of CFIA's 89 Canadian butter samples (0.1822 pg/g, non-detects counted at the detection limit), about 230.5 g of butter a week eaten alone would reach it, roughly 33 g a day. A daily 10 g serving is 30.4% of the weekly limit and adds 3.2% to 9.6% to the average adult's weekly exposure, far from doubling it. · CFIA dioxins survey (2014–2019) · A
    • Dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs · Worth knowing · Flagged for women who are or may become pregnant and for breastfeeding women; no cap for other adults. EFSA's 2026 tolerable weekly intake for dioxins and PCBs is 0.6 pg/kg body weight/week, 42 pg for 70 kg. EFSA's European butter data, not Canadian: a lower-bound mean of 0.20 pg/g of fat (0.1622 pg/g butter). About 258.9 g a week eaten alone would reach the limit. A daily 10 g serving is 27.0% of it and adds 2.9% to 8.6% to the average adult's weekly exposure, far from doubling it. · EFSA 2026 · A
    • Dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs · Worth knowing · Flagged for women who are or may become pregnant and for breastfeeding women; no cap for other adults. EFSA's 2026 tolerable weekly intake for dioxins and PCBs is 0.6 pg/kg body weight/week, 42 pg for 70 kg. On EFSA's European butter data, the upper-bound mean of 0.23 pg/g of fat is 0.1866 pg/g of butter, and about 225.1 g a week eaten alone would reach the limit. A daily 10 g serving is 31.1% of it and adds 3.3% to 9.9% to the average adult's weekly exposure, far from doubling it. At the 95th percentile (0.3812 pg/g), 110.2 g a week would reach it and a daily serving is 63.5% of it. · EFSA 2026 · A
    • Dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs · Context · No grams figure: the basis is WHO2005 and per g fat, and the limit is WHO2022. Context beside the 2014-2019 and EFSA rows. Min 0.0007, max 1.8689 pg WHO 2005 toxic equivalents/g fat in the report. · CFIA 2012–2014 · B
    • Lead · Nothing to watch: doesn’t double average intake · No cap: a 10.0 g serving adds 0.025 µg, 0.07% of the average adult's lead intake of 35 µg/day (EFSA), far from doubling it. No safe threshold is set for lead. Health Canada Total Diet Study, mean of 17 composites (1999-2018). · Health Canada Total Diet Study, trace elements · A
    • Milk allergy · Worth knowing · Flagged for people with a cow's milk allergy: butter is a named milk source, and milk is a Health Canada priority allergen. No threshold dose found. Of 30 children with IgE-mediated milk allergy tested with butter (Miceli Sopo 2025, abstract only), 15 were cleared to introduce normal butter, 1 was allergic and 14 were uncertain. That does not relax the flag. · Health Canada 2017 · A
    • Preformed vitamin A (retinol) · Nothing to watch: under the limit · No cap: the tolerable upper intake level for preformed vitamin A is 3000 µg RE/day for adults (EFSA 2024). A 10.0 g serving carries 67.1 µg retinol (a listed value), 2.2% of it. No adult average intake is recorded, so only the serving's share is shown. · US food database (USDA SR Legacy) · C

    Oxalate, phytate and gut-tolerance measurements

    • lactose: 688 and 685 mg/100 g (two retail butters; Table 1 dates both August 2011; country not stated) g/100 g · as sold, per 100 g butter · two retail butters, purchased from retail outlets between 2011 and 2014 (both dated August 2011); country, salted or unsalted, brand and fat level not stated (authors: butter 'contains approximately 80% fat') · grade A · PubMed 28649541
    • lactose: 0.6 g/100 g (CoFID Butter, salted and unsalted) g/100 g · as listed, per 100 g · CoFID 17-685 'Butter, salted' and 17-661 'Butter, unsalted' (identical values) · grade B · UK food tables (CoFID 2021)

    Sources

    Body map 2026-10-25.1: each nutrient’s job comes from an agency fact sheet, linked beside it under Good for.

    The plain words: “a lot” means one serving (100 g when the food has no serving size) gives at least 20% of the daily amount (the reference intake), “some” at least 10%, “a little” at least 2% (the cut-offs are ours, one set for every page: 20% and 10% are borrowed from the US labelling terms “high” and “good source” and applied to Health Canada’s daily amount, whereas Health Canada’s own shopper rule says 15%; provisional: they may change in a later method version). The daily amount is Health Canada’s Dietary Reference Intake for adults 19–30; where men and women need different amounts we use the higher one (protein: 56 g for men, 46 g for women). The percentage printed under each nutrient is the printed amount as a share of that daily amount, rounded to the nearest whole number, and the word is read from that percentage, so the amount, the percentage and the word always agree. Calcium with a measured absorption is scaled by how well it gets in compared with milk.

    The scale: “Nothing to watch” means a serving a day stays under the limit at ordinary amounts; “Go easy” means a serving a day can push past the limit for adults who already take in the most, or fewer than 2 servings reach it; “Limit it” means once a week or less. The dataset’s own rating is under “How we got this”. Provisional: the scale may change in a later method version.

    Measured absorption under Good for: grade-A studies in adults that tested this preparation of this food, as a share of the listed amount (the share digested, for protein), quoted once each source has passed our evidence check; animal studies and other variants stay in the table above. Provisional: this screen may change in a later method version.