Concerning butter - questions?

Question

(1) If all standard American butters are 80 score and butter-makers buy their cream in bulk from myriads of dairy farms and process it similarly following USDA standards why are there certain brands that taste much better (fresher and creamier) than others?

(2) Why do all standard brand butters (that I've tried so far) purchased in stores in Canada, including the American brand Sealtest, taste as good or better than the best tasting American
brands? Might the Canadian standard butterfat score be higher? Whatever the reason, then why, alternatively, do the butters in the little sealed butter packets served in most Canadian restaurants and supermarket and deli take-outs taste worse than butters in little sealed butter packets served in the USA?

Is any American packaged butter brand sold in
semi-salted version as well as salted and sweet, as Canadian butters are?

Vis a vis "Renzo's" answer: I know that "European style" higher score butters are available at higher prices, but I would not call them "standard brands" and I know that many of the more expensive standard brands (e.g. Land O'Lakes, most of the several brands from Keller, etc.) are still just 80 score.

Answer 1

Milk products in America, butter, cheese, etc are usually of a lesser quality in America than in other first world nations. It is because the USDA made a law that all milk has to be pasteurized for health reasons. The pasteurization process litterally kills all the good things in milk, the enzymes and even the taste. Other countries also pasteurize their milk but they do it in a much less harmful way for the milk.
The other thing about butter is the freshness, the fresher the butter the better. Also more expensive brands do have a higher fat content then lesser ones.

Answer 2

I am not sure how much truth there is to this, but it makes sense to me. I have made similar observations about hot sauce, ketchup, and a few other foods. I was told by a friend that the factories formulate their food to target their consumers. For instance a brand of hot sauce is actually hotter where it is sold in Texas, than where it is sold in say, Pennsylvania, because people eat spicier foods there. Maybe there is something there with the butter too? I like land o lakes and sealtest dairy products the best. I have sampled other butters that I could not even eat, so something has to be different.

Answer 3

1. Flavoring
2. Yes.
3. American stores only sell regular butter and "unsalted" butter. People on restricted salt diets by unsalted of course and there are lot of recipes that call for the unsalted kind. Otherwise we don't notice a difference and still some do not even know there was a choice. Butter is butter to some of us. Personnaly I buy the "tastes like butter" kind for reasons of watching cholesterol levels....you will too when you get to a certain age.

Answer 4

I don't know about american or canadian butter, but the New Zealand and Australian butter taste great.