Walmart ice cream sandwiches don't melt in the sun

[aaaaaa5a]

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/why-dont-ice-cream-sandwiches-melt-anymore


Full Story:

A mom of two young children is wondering: What's in ice cream sandwiches these days?

Christie Watson's kids love eating ice cream. But one recent morning, she saw an uneaten ice cream sandwich sitting on her patio table. When she looked closer, she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"I noticed that my son had left his ice cream sandwich outside," she said, "and I was wondering why is there still ice cream in there?"

The Wal-Mart Great Value sandwich had barely melted 12 hours later....even though it was an 80-degree morning.

"I thought that's quite weird," she said. "So I looked at the box, and it doesn't say artificial ice cream. It says ice cream."

Was it a Fluke?

Watson says she grabbed a second sandwich and left that out overnight, and ended up with the same result.

"Monday I came out and looked at it," she said, "and there was still ice cream there. So I thought to myself: what am I feeding to my children?"

We wondered, too, so we did a test.

We set out a Wal-Mart Great Value sandwich, a Klondike Bar sandwich, and a cup of Haagen Dazs in the hot sun for 30 minutes.

The Haagen Dazs melted quickly into a puddle.
The Klondike sandwich melted to a fair extent.
The Wal-Mart sandwich, though it melted a bit, remained the most solid in appearance, and still looked like a sandwich.
We contacted Wal-Mart, which released the following statement:

"Ice cream melts based on the ingredients including cream.

Ice cream with more cream will generally melt at a slower rate, which is the case with our Great Value ice cream sandwiches.

In the frozen aisles, Great Value ice cream sandwiches are one of the top sellers, and we are glad to be able to offer a great treat that families love."

Other sources in the dairy business tell us that despite the slow melt rate of store brand ice cream sandwiches, they are just as healthy as other ice cream and meet all FDA guidelines. In addition, they contain less fat, so may be better on your waistline.

What's in That Sandwich?

A check of ingredients confirms why Haagen Dazs melts quickly, like ice cream from days of yore.

Wal-Mart's ingredient list includes corn syrup, guar gum, and cellulose gum.
Unilever's Klondike Bars's ingredient list is very similar to Walmart's, with similar gums added.
Haagen Dazs contains just cream, milk, sugar, and eggs, and vanilla, but no corn syrup or gums of any type.
However, we should also point out a cup of Haagen Dazs or another premium ice cream costs about $3. For the same price you get a dozen ice cream sandwiches from Wal-Mart, or other stores.

For store brand sandwiches to be as natural as Haagen Dazs, the price would have to be significantly higher.

But even though there's nothing wrong with Walmart sandwiches, Watson misses old fashioned ice cream that melts quickly out in the sun.

Whatever ice cream you prefer, don't waste your money.

Video here:
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/why-dont-ice-cream-sandwiches-melt-anymore



What are we really eating today?

[Louisiana1976]

1. Very interesting post. I've eaten Great Value ice cream sandwiches and didn't know they

don't melt.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

16. Ugh! The very idea!

The very idea that someone would just leave a GV Ice Cream Sandwich lying around to die under the oppressive heat of the sun! Well! The very idea that it would even last long enough to be set down in the sun to begin with!

OUTRAGEOUS!

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. Are they actually even ice cream?

Or is 'ice cream sandwich' more of a brand name, sorta thing?

A lot of what used to be 'ice cream', even from major brands, is now marketed as 'frozen dairy dessert', presumably because it no longer meets standards for what 'ice cream' actually is.

I've noticed that about half of the 'Breyers' brand of products on display at our local grocery now have 'frozen dairy dessert' in small print on them, where the rest say 'ice cream'.

[aaaaaa5a]

4. Good point. I don't know the answer to that.

And it wasn't addressed in the story.

I am just concerned about the increased number of chemicals we consume. This is always a topic for Bill Maher. And I agree with him.

We now have:

McDonalds Hamburgers that don't go bad

Twinkies that don't rot.

And now Walmart Ice cream that only partially melts on a hot summer day.


And we wonder why cancer rates are rising?

[LiberalElite]

8. Maybe embalmers should be concerned -

eat enough of this stuff and we won't decompose after death.

[Silent3]

12. The McDonald's hamberger thing is a simple matter of portion size and moisture content...

...not a sign of Man Interfering with the Ways of Nature. Let anything similar dry out, and the same thing will happen. Thin patties make that drying out happen more easily and quickly. Keep a McDonald's hamburger warm and moist, and it will rot most noxiously and spectacularly -- in that oh so beautiful way that demonstrates the intrinsic wholesomeness of Nature.

http://skepticalteacher.wordpress.com/2010/11/14/the-myth-of-the-non-decomposing-mcdonalds-hamburger/

[gvstn]

7. I'm not sure either.

I usually read the label looking for sugar rather than corn syrup as my deciding factor.

Breyer's has been destroyed by its last several owners. (Corporation buys a trusted local brand and cheapens the formula. 5 years later when people catch on that it doesn't taste the same they sell it to someone else.) Breyer's has hit rock bottom at this point--like you said they don't even call it ice cream on half the varieties.

Edy's now owns Haagen Dazs and it too has changed. Their strawberry ice cream used to be vanilla ice cream with big pieces of strawberries, now it is just pink ice cream like everyone else.

Edy's has also changed themselves and only a few still have sugar rather than corn syrup. The basic flavors in the brown container are still decent (although too sweet) but the "Churn" flavors are not real ice cream but something lighter.

My favorite supermarket brand is probably Turkey Hill because I think they are still fairly creamy and not sickeningly sweet. I have only really tried Butter Pecan and Vanilla recently but definitely less sweet than most, and creamier and more dense than the others.

Ben and Jerry's has gotten sweeter over the years--I rarely buy it anymore.

So Haagen Daz Butter Pecan is still my favorite ice cream. Their vanilla ice cream bars with almond/chocolate coating are pretty good too. But I'm sure Edy's will tweak their formula as well and I'll be left ice creamless except for some plain vanilla for sundaes or something.

Sorry to rant against Edy's but they ruined my favorite ice cream, Starbuck's Coffee Almond Fudge: http://www.city-data.com/forum/food-drink/627241-starbucks-ice-cream.html

[hollysmom]

27. Interesting

Turkey hill is corn syrup, but most breyers is still sugar.

[gvstn]

30. I'll have to look into this to dispute my tastebuds.

But Breyer's has gone from All Natural to "Natural" with quotes on most of their varieties. They used to be Milk, Cream, Sugar and Flavorings. Now, I really don't even think they call themselves ice cream at least I don't think they do.

I worked with ice cream for many years and Breyer's once it was bought out by Kraft Foods, did go from a true ice cream to something whipped up with lots of air to make a pint. A pint of Haagen Dazs used to actually weigh about a pound where a pint of Breyer's was probably half as heavy. Both may have filled a pint container but Breyer's had become just a facsimile of ice cream. 20 years later Breyer's is beyond a joke and Haagen Dazs is still much better.

Really, compare today's Turkey Hill to today's Breyer's and see which one tastes better. Compared to Breyer's and Edy's, I will take Turkey Hill any time. I'm going by Vanilla and Butter Almond flavors only.

[Curmudgeoness]

3. I don't know about the spin Walmart is putting on this.

I am creeped out by this. I have had good quality ice cream, and I have had bargain brand ice cream, and I have never had ice cream that wasn't a puddle in no time if I didn't eat fast enough.

[Codeine]

5. Oh god! NOT GUAR GUM!!!

Guar gum is probably some bastard offshoot of the mining industry, poison pumped into our foo--

Oh, wait; it's a bean. A ground-up bean. It acts as a thickener and stabilizer, like corn starch.

People, a simple ingredient that keeps ice cream from forming ice crystals easily is a good thing -- it makes for a more durable, shippable, storable product that is less sensitive to short-term variations in freezer temp.

[aaaaaa5a]

6. I'm sorry. Ice cream should melt.

If it doesn't. Then it needs to be called something else. And the new product should be explained on the labeling to the public.

[Codeine]

13. It melts. I guarantee you it melts.

This is like the "ZOMG!! McDonald's burgers don't go bad!!!" which predictably turned out to be nonsense.

[Scootaloo]

26. it's a matter of quality ingredients, Codeine.

Yup, guar gum is perfectly natural. and nothing in particular wrong with using it as a fixative.

But when you're using so much that it functions as a filler, as seems to be the case here, well, that's just poor fucking quality. You buy ice cream, you expect frozen cream, not a cream based-soup of corn solids, starches, and gums.

it's sort of like the big rubbery chunks of red meat-stuff that tries to pass as pepperoni in a hot pocket. Yeah, it's porobably made of a fair amount of muscle fiber from a mammal and so can be called "meat", and aside from the massive wallop of sodium it's probably not expressly bad for you... but calling it "real pepperoni!" is still kind of dubious.

The real question is what is wrong with our food system that basic food, without 50% fluff, is so goddamned expensive.

[phil89]

9. So it's not healthy like natural ice cream?

nt

[Indydem]

10. Half assed science

This is a shitty experiment if I've ever seen one.

"Uh, here's an apple, an orange, and a German chocolate cake. LOOK AT HOW THAT CAKE DOESN'T ACT LIKE THE OTHER FRUITS!!!"

A real experiment:

Take a Kroger Ice Cream Sandwich, a WalMart ICS and an ICS from whole foods (or equivalent) and see how they react.

Then you can make a comparison. Not between an ICS and Haag en Daz which is all fat.

Jesus. I guess I should expect nothing less from the Indy Channel.

[Thor_MN]

19. Half? That being quite generous

I would say that a large part is an ingredient that they do NOT list. Air. Cheap ice cream is puffed up with air, it will feel warm to your mouth compared to real, old fashioned ice cream.

[Mnpaul]

22. Soft serve machines can adjust the air

A local DQ pumps in a high amount and their cones melt almost immediately while another pumps in little causing a slower melt. Same goes for the stores. Some brands will weigh much less than others due to added air.

[Thor_MN]

31. Soft serve is not ice cream. Up to a point, the higher the air, the slower the melting

Ice cream has to weigh at least 4.5 pounds/gallon to be called ice cream. Air conducts heat much less than ice cream, so it acts as insulation. Probably possible to go beyond a point of no return and leave so little of the ice cream that there is not enough mass and it will collapse quickly.

[Tetris_Iguana]

11. If Walmart Ice Cream Sandwiches don't melt

then why do they melt all over my hands every time I eat one?

This is why we leave science to scientists.

[eShirl]

14. it's cheap crappy ice cream that tastes cheap

they add gum and whip as much air into it as they can so it costs them less
it's kind of edible frozen foam

[KittyWampus]

15. My Dad said in Australia, the ice cream takes longer to melt > more cream in them.

[eShirl]

20. at least it melts

[Spitfire of ATJ]

17. "What are we really eating today?"

When a movie calls for ice cream to be in the scene they use colored mashed potatoes.

That way it survives multiple takes.

[lpbk2713]

18. What concerns me ...

is when I leave some food items or wrappers outside and insects
don't even go near it. I have to wonder WTF is in that stuff?

[SheilaT]

21. While it's tempting to use this thread to

bash WalMart, I'd rather make a plea in favor of real food.

I used to have an ice cream maker (got left behind in a divorce) and every so often I think about buying a new one. These days I live alone and it hardly seems worth the effort, but I probably should get another one.

Several years ago I was racing to catch an airplane, and needed to grab a quick bite to eat before I drove to the airport. I stopped home and heated up some leftovers in the microwave. But the leftovers were real food, and I found I could not just gobble them down. In really did need to take time and savor the flavors. Fortunately, I had enough time to do that, but it was an important lesson to me.

I don't always fix real food, but I try to do so most of the time. Even with the limitations of what I can buy at the supermarket, it is amazing how much better real food tastes than the stuff they try to pass off as food.

[OldRedneck]

23. I had a similar experience

I eat ice cream. I know, I shouldn't but, at age 70, WTF - - - I have 15 years to live and I'll eat ice cream and drink sour mash bourbon if I want to.

So . . . for the longest time I ate Breyer's vanilla. Then, in an opportunity to make my dull life more exciting and exotic, I decided to branch out and try something new -- like a new ice cream flavor. I bought some Breyer's pralines and cream.

I discovered the Breyer's pralines and cream would not freeze hard as did the vanilla. I read the label more carefully and discovered it was NOT "ice cream" -- it was "frozen dairy dessert." WTF is "frozen dairy dessert?" Dumped it into the trash.

Switched to Blue Bunny. All of their flavors are ICE CREAM.

Now I make it a point to read the ingredients and if there's any ingredient whose name I can't pronounce, I don't buy it.

[gvstn]

24. I hate to bust your bubble but...

Blue Bunny really is crap. I know all their "novelties" are "lite" ice cream so not really ice cream, and they use corn syrup.
I liked their ice cream sandwiches for a year because the wafers stayed firm but after reading the labels and tasting them over time, I decided they were pretty gross. Read again and see the asterisk next to ice cream where they don't really say they are ice cream but some type of "lite" ice cream with the supposedly wonderful factor that they have 1/3 less calories. That missing 1/3 calories means they are doing something bad that they are trying to pass off as good for your weight.

[rppper]

25. Try blue bell....

They used to sell it only in Texas, but now it's directly sold in about half the US.....it is real iced cream....the pralines and cream is my personal favorite....but the butter pecan is pretty damn good!

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Bell_Creameries

[Niceguy1]

28. better for the kids

Doesnt melt quickly and make a mess....

[RobertEarl]

29. What are yall complaining about?

That's some really good shit. Bad shit is something they rarely ever sell ya. But if they do you can bet it really is the cheapest.

[kelliekat44]

32. That's because they are made from plastic. nt