An image widely shared on social media appears to show a post on X by the TV presenter Gregg Wallace warning about the cow food additive Bovaer. But this image has been edited and there’s no evidence Mr Wallace has posted any such message.
Bovaer is a methane-reducing cow feed additive that is being tested on 30 farms across the UK. It has been the subject of much online misinformation in recent weeks, which we’ve looked at in detail elsewhere.
The image circulating online appears to show a post dated 14 October from the X account of Mr Wallace’s weight loss business, GreggWallace.Health, with the caption: “I have heard disturbing reports that a company associated with Bill Gates is going to trial the poison addictive bovaer [sic] with large dairy companies in the UK. I'm going to uncover the truth, even if they try to silence me!” The post pictured also appears to include a video of the presenter.
It has been shared with captions including “Is it just coincidence that at around the same time Gregg Wallace speaks out about additives in our food & 'Bovaer', the Media decides to destroy his career”, and “This is why they’ve come for Gregg Wallace. He tried to warn us”.
These posts refer to the emergence of allegations against Mr Wallace of inappropriate sexual behaviour and sexual harassment. The production company that makes MasterChef, Banijay UK, said in a statement to the PA news agency that Mr Wallace has stepped away from presenting the programme and announced an “immediate, external review” to investigate. Mr Wallace’s lawyers have reportedly strongly denied that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.
However, the image circulating online has been edited. We’ve not found evidence that any such post was shared by either Mr Wallace’s personal or business account on 14 October or on any other date, or that Mr Wallace has made any comments about Bovaer.
The clip of Mr Wallace shown in the screenshot appears to have actually been shared by his business account on 14 May with the caption: “The way to gain long term, sustainable weight loss is by being good most of the time...this is good enough! #Gregg WallaceHealth.” In the clip, which shows Mr Wallace addressing the camera with bookshelves in the background, he is speaking about healthy eating, and there is no reference to Bovaer.
This post was shared at 12:06pm, which is also the timestamp in the edited image.
A representative for Mr Wallace told reporters at Reuters that the image is fake and that he made no such comment about the additive. We’ve contacted Mr Wallace’s agent for comment and will update this article if we receive a response.
Honesty in public debate matters
You can help us take action – and get our regular free email
Is milk from cows fed Bovaer safe?
The posts call the additive “poison”.
But as we wrote earlier this month, Bovaer has been approved by UK, EU and US food safety authorities, and is considered safe in the approved doses. Professor Alastair Hay, Professor (Emeritus) of Environmental Toxicology at the University of Leeds, said via the Science Media Centre that extensive testing had shown that at approved doses the additive presented no cancer risk, adding: “There is no evidence to suggest that at the doses approved for use in animals that the additive is a risk to humans through consumption of milk.”
The posts also claim a company “associated with Bill Gates” is trialling the additive.
Bovaer is fully developed and owned by a company called DSM-Firmenich and has no other investors, and DSM-Firmenich says Mr Gates was not involved in the development of Bovaer, though his charitable foundation has previously given development grants to the company specifically for projects related to preventing malaria and improving water, sanitation and hygiene. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation told Full Fact that the foundation trust doesn’t own equity or hold debt in DSM-Firmenich.
Mr Gates has invested in a separate company, Rumin8, that is working on its own dietary supplement to reduce cow methane emissions.
This is not the first time we’ve written about fake posts appearing to be from public figures, including politicians such as Boris Johnson, Nadine Dorries and Dominic Raab.
Misinformation about food and drinks can be harmful if people use it to make decisions about their diet and health. You can find more of our work on false claims relating to health on our website.