Editor’s note: This post gets a lot of attention as we transition into warmer weather.
Originally posted on July 23, 2013.
It is the summer and thoughts change from hot cocoa to ice cream. If you aren’t a hard ice cream fan, you may indulge in soft serve ice cream. It may surprise you, as it did me, the ingredients in “soft serve ice cream”.
Wakingtimes.com article states that “Some of the largest ice cream chains in the world such as Baskin-Robbins, Ben & Jerry’s, Dairy Queen and Haagen-Dazs all use the toxic ingredients in their flavors.
The list includes: ” milk, sugar, whey, and cream” plus:
Calcium Sulfate
Polysorbate 80
Magnesium hydroxide
Xanthan Gum
Corn Syrup Solids Corn syrup, corn syrup solids, and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) are all made from corn, and bottom line, all are sugar and genetically modified)
Potassium Sorbate
Mono- and Diglycerides
Guar Gum
Sodium Phosphate
Soy Lecithin or Soya Lecithin
Carrageenan
Artificial Flavors, Dippings, Toppings
If you opted for, say, a soft-serve ice cream with strawberry syrup or chocolate syrup (or dipped in for hardshell), you’d have to contend with these ingredients: High fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar, E330 citric acid, E405 propylene glycol alginate, E412 guar gum, E413 tragacanth, E414 acacia, modified corn starch, E296 malic acid, E211 sodium benzoate & E202 potassium sorbate, artificial flavors, E129 FD&C Red No. 40, E133 FD&C Blue No. 1.
US Food Safety editor additions:
From Baskin Robbins:
Vanilla Soft Serve Cone
Ingredients:
Nonfat Milk, Sugar, Cream, Whey Powder, Stabilizer/Emulsifier Blend (Mono and Diglycerides, Cellulose Gel, Cellulose Gum, Locust Bean Gum, Carrageenan), Vanilla Extract, Vitamin A Palmitate.
Burger King had nutritional information but no ingredients listed.
An ingredient list on the Wendy’s website was not readily available although there was nutritional information.
Editor’s note:
From Wendy’s:
VANILLA REDUCED FAT ICE CREAM
Ingredients: Milk, Sugar, Cream, Corn Syrup, Natural Flavor, Mono and Diglycerides, Cellulose Gum, Guar Gum, Carrageenan, Vitamin A Palmitate.
Contains: MILK.
CAKE CONE
Ingredients: Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Tapioca Starch, Sugar, Canola Oil or a blend of Soybean Oil, Palm Oil and Soy Lecithin, Leavening (Baking Soda, Ammonium Bicarbonate), Salt, Annatto Extract (Color), Natural Flavor, Corn Syrup (Processing Aid).
Contains: WHEAT, SOY
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From Baskin-Robbins:
Vanilla Soft Serve
Our smooth and creamy Vanilla Soft Serve is a sweet treat that’s so delicious you’ll want seconds. You’re only a swirl away from a “Yay!”
Ingredients:
Nonfat Milk, Sugar, Cream, Whey Powder, Stabilizer/Emulsifier Blend (Mono and Diglycerides, Cellulose Gel, Cellulose Gum.
________________
Enjoy the summer!
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© 2019 US Food Safety Corporation. No copyright claim is made for portions of this blog and linked items that are works of the United States Government, state governments or third parties
US Food Safety 
Val Henderson
November 14, 2019
I really have a very hard time wrapping my mind as to WHY IS PROPYLENE GLYCOL (ANTIFREEZE) IS ALLOW BY THE GOVERNMENT IN SOME FOODS, MEDICATIONS.. AND WHATEVER ELSE THEY DECIDE TO PUT IT IN. PLUS MONO & DIGLYCERIDES COULD BE PLANT BASE OR ANIMAL, FOR THOSE WHO DONT EAT MEAT, HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING WHAT IS BEING USED, THIS IS A TURN OFF FROM BUYING A WHOLE LOT OF FOODS….. WHY IS THIS ALLOWED. NO WONDER PEOPLE ARE SICK AND DYING.
Brian Hastings
May 9, 2019
Great! Thanks for sharing the knowledge. However, I myself am an ice cream lover and I’d only prefer the best soft server ice creams made by aurel llc.
mckenzie00
May 16, 2018
Also, I like my ice cream hard when its just out of the freezer. Ingredients are added to keep it soft? Homemade is my favorite. Nothing at the store compares, WHY?
Merc
July 18, 2017
Wow just had vanilla soft serve at McDonald’s won’t be having that anymore, had no idea it had toxic chemicals in it.
T low
June 29, 2017
If there are toxic ingredients in you ice cream WHY THE HELL do you serve it to your customers? Shame on you !!!
Mimi
June 26, 2017
This sounds more like poison than like a treat!! Why serve up poison??? Again, the killing of America! 😔😡
joel morton
June 24, 2017
I can’t believe we can’t eat corn anymore due to Monsanto. Wheat is now GMO and Roundup Ready as well.
Dian
June 23, 2017
My whole family gets sick after eating carrageenan containing products. A prominent Physician from OSU who specializes in gut health has confirmed the dangers of carrageenan.
Sara
May 9, 2017
I had a bad bloating experience with carageenan, after having a bagel with Philadelphia cream cheese. I’ll take avocado on my bagels from now on!
Jean Byrnes
September 5, 2016
I have just read all of these blogs pro and con. I have a simple comment.
I have been eating in a very concientious healthy way for two months now due some inflammation and joint pain, and all I can tell you is that tonight I had a small vanilla cone from McDonald’s with the ingredients you have just described, and an hour later I can hardly move, the joint pain is so severe. I know by eleiminating the the toxins, by tomorrow I will be okay again and I can do that by one green drink, however
I for one will not even consider a simple ice cream cone without taking a look at the ingredients from now on. And these ingredients are off my list
Permanently.
Anthony Nonymous
June 7, 2016
Warning: these responses are mostly from food industry lobbyists. Best tip: make a little extra time to buy foods with ingredients you can pronounce, prepare them yourself, and skip the fast food. Ice cream? Research the brands.
Carolyn Suever
March 25, 2016
I’m 74, my mother is 95, we have been eating mostly what we want all these years, and when she and I were growing up there was not a plethora of food ingredient info, whatever we have been consuming over the years has obviously not endangered our lives, at least not yet – I enjoy foods in moderation and eat what I want.
John Silverstone
March 11, 2016
You don’t know what you are talking about.
There is absolutely no proof that those ingredients are bad for you. Soft serve ice cream is a joy to eat and I’ve been eating them for years and I am in perfect health.
raideralex
February 12, 2017
Well obviously if you are then it must make everything else false. Sound logic.
foxhanger
May 21, 2017
Bravo for you. But many reactions to foods can be genetic. I had a genetic profile ordered by my doctor a few years ago and have many reactions to different things. Every time I eat soft serve I have severe stomach pains and then lapse into an almost comatose state until I sleep it off. This does not happen to me with regular ice cream. It is mentioned above that there are genetically-modified foods in soft serve. I am a victim of a mass poisoning in 1989 of L-Tryptophan, a food supplement that came into this country from a petro-chemical company in Japan. It turned out that it was genetically-modified, and not properly manufactured. I have a life-long illness because of it. We must be so careful what we eat. If you eat anything and have a weird reaction, my advice would be not to eat it again. And if you are not a biochemist, at least try to find out what ingredients were in that food, and try not to eat them again, especially if they are genetically-modified.
Chas
June 6, 2015
Nice site, nice and easy on the eyes and great content as well.
Terian
June 4, 2014
That toxic ingredient would be Carageenan. It is a completely unnecessary food additive used in conventional, natural, and even some organic food and drink products could be causing digestive problems and even cancer, according to a report from the organic watchdog group the Cornucopia Institute. Soy milk dangers, along with almond milk and even ice cream threats, are included in the report.
Carageenan is a seaweed-derived ingredient used to create a better texture, or “mouthfeel,” in low-fat dairy products and dairy alternatives like soymilk. Often found in things like chocolate milk, sour cream, creamers, yogurt, ice cream, and juices, carrageenan helps keep different ingredients in suspension so they don’t separate, eliminating the need to shake the product before you consume it. “I bet most moms who choose organic food would rather shake the container than have it include an ingredient that might place their children at risk,” says Mark Kastel, cofounder of the Cornucopia Institute. “Not a very high level of inconvenience to provide a pure and natural food to your family.”
To be sure, carrageenan use is rampant in nonorganic food and drinks, and used in only some organic products. Cornucopia Institute used the carrageenan case in its most recent report, though, to highlight the fact that corporate interests can sometimes promote less-than-ideal ingredients for inclusion under the National Organic Standards Board’s list of approved ingredients. Nonetheless, Kastel agrees that organic is still far safer than conventional counterparts. “Independent testing consistently proves that organic food has demonstrably lower levels of any kind of toxic agrichemical and contaminants, and of course, organic commodities are not produced with genetically modified organisms,” he says.
debbie
February 14, 2014
Carrageenan, a Versatile and Safe Food Ingredient
Let Science and Facts Guide You
Carrageenan has become an essential ingredient in a wide variety of foods we consume every day such as flavored milks, stabilized milk substitutes such as soy, processed deli and fresh meats, and as a vegetable-based gelatin replacer.
Carrageenan has a number of positive attributes in today’s food environment. Carrageenan can be used in foods labeled Organic and is considered Natural. Ingredients Solutions Inc. has carved out a niche in the US market by being the leading marketer of Natural Grade (Semi-Refined) carrageenan, a minimally-processed type of carrageenan. Natural Grade carrageenan is lower in cost than the highly refined types but equally effective in the applications noted above.
The fact that carrageenan is a seaweed extract gives it a certain cache among those consumers seeking “green” and “sustainable” products. Seaweeds grow in seawater without the need for fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides. The predominant seaweed types producing carrageenan (Kappaphycus and Eucheuma spinosum) grow naturally on tropical reefs. To augment the natural harvest these two seaweeds have been farmed by coastal fisherman predominantly in Philippines and Indonesia for the last forty years. As fishing in these areas has declined, seaweed farming has become the principal income for this population. So, there is a social-economic empowerment associated with the carrageenan industry.
Let’s return to carrageenan’s attributes as a food ingredient. Carrageenan from the two tropical seaweeds noted in the previous paragraph give a wide range of textures or “mouth feel”. These textures range from rigid to elastic gels and in suitable blends with other gums can have the texture of salves or pastes. If carrageenan from cold water seaweeds are added to the mix free flowing viscous solutions can be formulated.
Another attribute of carrageenan is its ability to bind water. Syneresis control is important in processed meats. Without carrageenan in the mix of gums used in processed meats, controlling package purge would be an even bigger problem than it already is. Syneresis control also plays a role in fragrance release in air fresher gels an important application for carrageenan. While not a food application it is worth mentioning. Carrageenan is also a synergistic gum. That is, it can be formulated into blends of gums to make stronger gels than with a single gum. Blends can also be formulated with lower syneresis than can be achieved with a single gum.
Probably the most unique property of carrageenan is its ability to interact with proteins, a special type of synergistic behavior. Milk protein forms a particularly strong bond with carrageenan. Suspending the cocoa in chocolate milk requires only a few hundred parts per million while also imparting a whole milk-like mouthfeel in a low fat milk. Protein synergy in meat is less than in milk, but it still plays a role in enhancing the sliceability of deli meats. Carrageenan is also gaining use in fresh meats to improve juiciness and reduce cook loss.
Turning to the safety of carrageenan, there has been an amazing amount of unsubstantiated blogging about carrageenan being unsafe as a food ingredient. In spite of this misinformation, carrageenan continues as the safe food ingredient it has always been. If it were not, the principal regulatory agencies of the world (US FDA, FAO/WHO JECFA, EU EFSA, and Japan Ministry of Health) would not continue to approve its use, and all of them give the necessary approvals for use in all the applications noted above. The only application restricted as a precautionary measure is stabilizing liquid infant formula. Definitive toxicology is about to be published that is expected to remove this restriction. One fact very much in carrageenan’s favor on the safety front stems from very low use levels. Furthermore, being a relatively expensive ingredient it is only used in applications where its unique functionalities justify its use.
Why all the concern about the safety of using carrageenan in foods? Starting in the 1960s there have been research studies showing that if excessive doses of carrageenan are consumed in animal trials inflammation can be induced in the small intestine. Likewise, inappropriate methods of introducing the carrageenan into the animals can create a similar inflammatory response, i.e. feeding carrageenan to the animals in their only source of drinking water. However, there has never been a validated inflammatory response in humans over the seventy plus years carrageenan has been used in foods. The anecdotal “upset tummies” reported in blogs as coming from consuming a food containing carrageenan are hardly reliable sources of toxicological information on the safety of carrageenan.
Inflammatory responses in animals only occur when carrageenan can cross the blood membrane barrier of the small intestine. This only occurs when the extreme feeding conditions mentioned above are employed. Normal feeding regimes induce no such response.
Over the last decade a group of molecular biologists at the University of Illinois at Chicago lead by Dr Joanne Tobacman have explored the in vitro interaction of carrageenan with various genes involved in inflammatory diseases. They concluded that carrageenan can cause inflammation in the gut via a binding mechanism involving TLR-4 receptors. This group also concluded that carrageenan degrades in the gut and the degraded carrageenan can permeate the membrane barrier. Recent studies sponsored by the carrageenan industry (in press) provide scientific evidence refuting both of these claims. The industry-sponsored studies also raise the caution that in vitro studies may not be a good model for in vivo events in the GI tract after a carrageenan-containing food has been consumed.
There is no scientific evidence known to Ingredients Solutions Inc. that would require your company to abandon using carrageenan in your product because of safety concerns. Likewise, there is no reason for you or your company to stop developing new products with carrageenan as an ingredient based on safety issues. Of course consumer concerns, no matter how ill-founded, must be considered, and the carrageenan industry is trying to get ahead of the bloggers with a positive PR program.
Rebecca
September 5, 2013
The real problem with carrageenan is that it is used much more often in more and more foods that are being consumed today. It is also in many cases is being processed differently which changes its molecular make-up, this change makes it more harmful to the consumer. The studies that the FDA chooses to use are from 2008, performed by a company that manufactures carrageenan, also at a time when the average consumption by the consumer was much less. Studies have since shown adverse effects of carrageenan in test animals. Trust the government if you like but how many times have they led us astray for their own benefit.
Like many other allergens not every person has negative side effects from carrageenan, but I encourage anyone who has digestive issues to pay close attention to their consumption of carrageenan, eliminate it all together and you will notice a difference with-in a couple weeks. I speak from experience in relation to this ingredient. I also know now when I have consumed it unknowingly by its adverse effects and by going back to a restaurant to inquire about this ingredient in the food in which I thought it was consumed in, and surprise its always there. It is being used more and more because it sole purpose is as a filler-thickening agent. Exactly why you find it more often in generic foods.
My closing remarks
I encourage anyone with digestive, issues to look into other peoples experiences and side effects (goes beyond digestive problems) on-line in relation to carregeenan and if you too suffer from these problems to conduct your own experiment eliminate it from your diet and see what happens for yourself, as myself and 4 others I know personally have done.
A wise consumer would do their best to consume as little additives as possible in their daily diet.
Debbie
August 19, 2013
SO MUCH FOR THE MYTHS
CONSIDER THE FACTS ON CARRAGEENAN FOR A CHANGE
Q. What is Carrageenan??
A. Carrageenan is a naturally-occurring seaweed extract. It is widely used in foods and non-foods to improve texture and stability. Common uses include meat and poultry, dairy products, canned pet food, cosmetics and toothpaste.
Q. Why the controversy?
A. Self-appointed consumer watchdogs have produced numerous web pages filled with words condemning carrageenan as an unsafe food additive for human consumption. However, in 70+ years of carrageenan being used in processed foods, not a single substantiated claim of an acute or chronic disease has been reported as arising from carrageenan consumption. On a more science-based footing, food regulatory agencies in the US, the EU, and in the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) repeatedly review and continue to approve carrageenan as a safe food additive.
Q. What has led up to this misrepresentation of the safety of an important food stabilizer, gelling agent and thickener?
A. It clearly has to be attributed to the research of Dr. Joanne Tobacman, an Associate Prof at the University of Illinois in Chicago. She and a group of molecular biologists have accused carrageenan of being a potential inflammatory agent as a conclusion from laboratory experiments with cells of the digestive tract. It requires a lot of unproven assumptions to even suggest that consumption of carrageenan in the human diet causes inflammatory diseases of the digestive tract. The objectivity of the Chicago research is also flawed by the fact that Dr Tobacman has tried to have carrageenan declared an unsafe food additive on weak technical arguments that she broadcast widely a decade before the University of Chicago research began.
Q. What brings poligeenan into a discussion of carrageenan?
A. Poligeenan (“degraded carrageenan” in pre-1988 scientific and regulatory publications) is a possible carcinogen to humans; carrageenan is not. The only relationship between carrageenan and poligeenan is that the former is the starting material to make the latter. Poligeenan is not a component of carrageenan and cannot be produced in the digestive tract from carrageenan-containing foods.
Q. What are the differences between poligeenan and carrageenan?
A. The production process for poligeenan requires treating carrageenan with strong acid at high temp (about that of boiling water) for 6 hours or more. These severe processing conditions convert the long chains of carrageenan to much shorter ones: ten to one hundred times shorter. In scientific terms the molecular weight of poligeenan is 10,000 to 20,000; whereas that of carrageenan is 200,000 to 800,000. Concern has been raised about the amount of material in carrageenan with molecular weight less than 50,000. The actual amount (well under 1%) cannot even be detected accurately with current technology. Certainly it presents no threat to human health.
Q. What is the importance of these molecular weight differences?
A. Poligeenan contains a fraction of material low enough in molecular weight that it can penetrate the walls of the digestive tract and enter the blood stream. The molecular weight of carrageenan is high enough that this penetration is impossible. Animal feeding studies starting in the 1960s have demonstrated that once the low molecular weight fraction of poligeenan enters the blood stream in large enough amounts, pre-cancerous lesions begin to form. These lesions are not observed in animals fed with a food containing carrageenan.
Q. Does carrageenan get absorbed in the digestive track?
A. Carrageenan passes through the digestive system intact, much like food fiber. In fact, carrageenan is a combination of soluble and insoluble nutritional fiber, though its use level in foods is so low as not to be a significant source of fiber in the diet.
Summary
Carrageenan has been proven completely safe for consumption. Poligeenan is not a component of carrageenan.
Closing Remarks
The consumer watchdogs with their blogs and websites would do far more service to consumers by researching their sources and present only what can be substantiated by good science. Unfortunately we are in an era of media frenzy that rewards controversy.
Additional information available:
On June 11th, 2008, Dr. Joanne Tobacman petitioned the FDA to revoke the current regulations permitting use of carrageenan as a food additive.
On June 11th, 2012 the FDA denied her petition, categorically addressing and ultimately dismissing all of her claims; their rebuttal supported by the results of several in-depth, scientific studies.
If you would like to read the full petition and FDA response, they can be accessed at http://www.regulations.gov/#!searchResults;rpp=25;po=0;s=FDA-2008-P-0347
T is for This and That
July 24, 2013
Hi! I’d just like inquire which of the ingredients cited above are actually toxic. I’m no expert on the matter but I think it would be best for everyone to know which is which. Thank you so much.