What are the ingredients of Savor butter? Matt Walsh slams company backed by Bill Gates, objects to “artificial slop made in a laboratory”

Podcaster Matt Walsh recently criticized Savor, a company backed by Bill Gates that has developed a lab-grown butter alternative called Savor butter. In the August 12, 2025, episode of The Matt Walsh Show, he emphasized that his opposition was not just about taste but also about the idea of artificially produced food.

"I really just object in principle to artificial slop made in a laboratory. I reject it. I object to it in principle," Walsh said.

According to a CBS News report, the company behind Savor Butter operates in an industrial park in Batavia, Illinois, west of Chicago. Its sustainability-focused approach received strong support from Bill Gates.

Savor butter is made by extracting carbon dioxide from the air and hydrogen from water. These elements undergo oxidation and heating to produce fats that are chemically identical to those found in dairy, without relying on animals or plants.

Food scientist Jordan Beiden-Charles told CBS News that the product combines fat, water, lecithin as an emulsifier, and natural flavor and color to create a convincing butter substitute.

The product was designed to look, smell, and taste like traditional butter but without the environmental impact, such as the use of farmland, fertilizers, or emissions associated with dairy production.

During the podcast episode, Walsh explained that although many plant-based butter alternatives were already available in the market, the company backed by the Microsoft co-founder was creating Savor butter with "nothing edible" in it.

"No cows, no plants, nothing. Nothing edible is involved in the creation of this new butter that Bill Gates is gracing the world with. This is another way to save the planet, allegedly," he remarked.

While acknowledging the sustainability claims and Bill Gates’s support, Walsh added that he had “major problems” with the idea of Savor butter.

"I want real. I’m sick of fake. The last thing we need is more fake," he said.

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Matt Walsh criticizes Bill Gates-backed Savor butter, saying it tastes nothing "like the thing that it’s imitating"

Matt Walsh criticizes Bill Gates-backed Savor butter (Image via Getty Images)

During the August 12 podcast episode, Matt Walsh criticized Savor butter. He argued that, despite marketing claims, products like Savor butter inevitably fall short when compared to the original. Drawing from his experiences with similar substitutes, he said he had never found an alternative that could truly replicate the food it aimed to imitate.

"We all know that. Every day, they have some new alternative product on the market. You know, alternative butter, alternative milk, meat, cheese. Thousands of alternatives. I’ve tried many of them. Always just sort of out of morbid curiosity. And it never tastes like the thing that it’s imitating. Never," Walsh said.

"There is not an alternative product like this on the market that actually tastes like the thing that it’s imitating. That does not exist," he added.

Walsh went further, dismissing the Bill Gates-backed Savor butter as “artificial slop.” Referring to a CBS News video segment on Savor butter, he claimed a freeze-frame at the 1:38 mark showed a factory vat labeled “slop water.” This, he said, reinforced his belief that the product was made from inedible ingredients.

"So, if you want to be a good little planeteer and eat your emulsified slop water, then you go ahead. I’ll pass. I’ll take a pass on the slop water," he added.

Framing his stance as a matter of principle, Walsh declared that he prefers “real” food. He described his opposition to this artificial butter as “a cry in the wilderness” against the "darkness" of fake alternatives. He insisted he would not stay silent while traditional foods were replaced with imitations.

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More about Savor butter

Savor butter (Image via Savor's official website)

Savor Butter is the latest food innovation backed by Bill Gates, aimed at transforming how butter is produced. According to a CBS News report dated August 6, 2025, the founders of Savor explained that their lab-made butter was created entirely without agriculture, livestock, or farmland.

Kathleen Alexander, co-founder and CEO of Savor, described the basic concept.

"So you’re using this gas right now to cook your food, and we’re proposing that we would like to first make your food...with that gas," she told CBS News.

Alexander further emphasized the environmental advantages of the process:

"In addition to the carbon footprint being much lower for a process like this, right, the land footprint is, like, a thousand times lower than what you need in traditional agriculture."

The CBS News report also described how artificial butter is made. Fats, whether from plants or animals, are made of carbon and hydrogen chains. Savor replicates these chains without using animals or plants by capturing carbon dioxide from the air and hydrogen from water, then heating and oxidizing them to create a wax-like substance.

This substance contains edible fat molecules similar to those in beef, cheese, or vegetable oils. Additionally, the process releases zero greenhouse gases, requires no farmland, and avoids palm oil, which is a major cause of deforestation and climate change.

Despite its unconventional origins, Savor claims the product tastes just like traditional butter. The company also anticipates that consumers will see it on store shelves by 2027. Bill Gates, whose company invested in Savor, expressed his optimism about this environmentally friendly alternative to butter.

"The idea of switching to lab-made fats and oils may seem strange at first. But their potential to significantly reduce our carbon footprint is immense," he wrote in his blog post.

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According to the CBS report, the company behind Savor butter is currently partnering with restaurants, bakeries, and food suppliers. They also plan to release chocolates made with the butter just in time for the 2025 holiday season.

Meanwhile, Bill Gates remains primarily focused on philanthropy through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. His foundation aims to improve global health, reduce poverty, and expand educational opportunities worldwide.