[safety1st]

Far be it from me to defend Big Food, but let's play devil's advocate for a moment, just facts with no LLM slop.

Hyperbole aside they created a new product category which has less milk fat, and adds more air and gum/gelatin.

It tastes similar to ice cream at half the calories, not so insignificant in a world where obesity is the #1 public health crisis.

Their labeling is technically compliant with regulations but converting classic ice cream brands into these "ice milk desserts" was unpleasantly sneaky of them.

Are we 100% sure all the consumers eating these desserts have been fooled? We're sure no one's choosing them because they're lower calorie, lower fat, lower price, tastes good enough etc.?

If it tasted good, a dessert that's 99% air and ice would be a public health win would it not? That's pretty much what bingsu is, I don't care for it, but many people love it.

Haagen-Dazs is still there on the shelves and still good ice cream.

I don't know, I think the outrage is a little overblown. "Tastes better but is twice the calories" is a very significant consumer choice. I bet many will say they want the "real" stuff, but when it comes to purchasing decisions, buy the "fake" stuff more often.

There may be better windmills to tilt at than lecturing people on which type of milk dessert is the right choice. The brand shenanigans aside maybe we are in a better position having both options on the shelves.

[lesostep]

>> at half the calories, not so insignificant in a world where obesity is the #1 public health crisis

It's not so simple. The problem is that fat calories and whole milk/cream make you feel fuller, leading to decrease in eating, leading to decrease in calories

While air with sugar – especially corn syrup – doesn't make you feel full as much, leading to overeating later. High blood sugar isn't good, so your body is mostly working to turn it into stored fat as fast as possible. After it's done converting, you will feel hungry again.

Fat inside your stomach on the other side is metabolizing slowly, and it's products are mostly spend on whatever you do.

People that count their calories could make an informed choice about their calories intake and just deal with additional hunger. People that rely on hunger and individual understanding of their bodies could misjudge easily when fat is switched to gum and syrup.

[alanwreath]

Problem isn’t with “tastes better and at half the calories”, no, it is actually for providing filler when the initial sell was using genuine simple ingredients.

The software analog is like a certain Italian company that buys SaaS companies and waters down the initial product, firing then very ingredients that made the product good in the first place in an effort to:

- extract maximum profit

- ride the coattails of trust a brand has garnered.

I won’t speak to the odd coincidence of their name and its relation to ice cream.

Some people aren’t buying icecream to lose weight. That’s not their purpose. It’s to indulge and enjoy artisanal foods where the purpose was high quality not high margins.

Of course I don’t buy that icecream much anymore - I just buy Andies custard by the quart.

[cyberax]

> Problem isn’t with “tastes better and at half the calories”, no, it is actually for providing filler when the initial sell was using genuine simple ingredients.

So "ice cream desserts" use fake gelatin?