Ahhh, Ice Cream
Lovely, sweet, creamy, cold ice cream.
What is better in the summer heat?
A single taste can transport us to happy childhood days,
It is, in many ways, almost magical.
but could it also be poison?!
A number of alarmist articles and videos have been popping up online lately making some exaggerated (or outright wrong) claims that some ice cream is now dangerous based on it having the appearance of not melting.
As a test, one or more ice cream products are left sitting at room temperature for hours or even days with the ice cream apparently not melting and the claim is made that this is evidence of the product being dangerous to eat.
To start, let’s clarify a few things
The products tested are not technically ice cream. They are frozen dairy desserts.
The main difference being frozen dairy desserts contain modified milk ingredients in place of milk or cream. Lets call them MMIs
The implication has been made that MMIs are somehow scary.
The Canada Food Inspection Agency defines modified milk ingredients as
“any of the following in liquid, concentrated, dry, frozen or reconstituted form, namely, calcium-reduced skim milk (obtained by the ion-exchange process), casein, caseinates, cultured milk products, milk serum proteins, ultrafiltered milk, whey, whey butter, whey cream and any other component of milk the chemical state of which has been altered from that in which it is found in milk.”
To be clear MMIs have no extra chemicals added.
MMIs are just milk (or cream) with milk components added or removed, or has gone through a mechanical process, like ultrafiltered milk. In ice cream, MMIs are often used to reduce production costs, and improve texture and shelve life.
The bottom line is MMIs are perfectly safe to eat. They aren’t always as tasty as plain milk or cream but they are safe.
So what causes the frozen dairy desserts to not “melt”?
What most of the articles and videos fail to mention is the fact that the products they were testing were mid to lower quality discount brands. One video even refers to their test product as “premium”, though they cost one third of real premium brands like Häagen-Dazs and Ben and Jerry’s at Loblaws (Canada’s largest national grocery chain)
Discount brands of frozen dairy desserts are able to offer their product at a lower cost because they use less expensive ingredients. Like thickeners and stabilizers. Its these thickeners and stabilizers that give the dessert the appearance of not melting.
As the dessert warms, the thickeners and stabilizers maintain their shape and suspend the milk solids, while the liquid thaws and separates from the solids. In the bowl tests you can clearly see the liquid underneath the solids on top. In the ice cream sandwich test the thawed liquid is absorbed by the cookie layer.
Some common thickeners and stabilizers are,
- Agar – An algae extract with a gelatin like consistency.
- Guar gum – The ground endosperm of guar beans
- Locust bean gum – a vegetable gum extracted from the seeds of the carob tree
Most thickeners and stabilizers are safe to eat. When they are used to replace a more expensive ingredient the product can be made more cheaply but the qualities of taste and/or texture can some times suffer, depending on the amount used. The test products all have higher amounts of thickeners and stabilizers than the products used for comparison.
The bottom line is, no, your ice cream is not poison. Its simply a matter of “you get what you pay for”. If you want ice cream with pure, whole natural ingredients you’ll either have to shell out for a premium brand (even then, check the ingredients), or make your own.
More Information
Canada Food Inspection Agency
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/food/labelling/food-labelling-for-industry/dairy-products/100-canadian-milk/eng/1378188902717/1378188978345