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Compositional standards for ice cream and dairy ice cream

Ice cream manufacturers are required to meet legislation for the composition of their products. Typically compositional legislation defines minimum concentrations of milk fat, milk protein and total solids, but other criteria depending on jurisdiction may also be included. Labelling legislation also distinguishes between ice cream and dairy ice cream.

Global standards

Goff and Hartel (2013) have reviewed the minimum standards for the composition of ice cream in the major ice cream-producing and consuming countries (Table 1).  They stated that while standards were "tightly" specified in some countries e.g. US, they noted a developing trend that "formerly strict compositional standards are being liberalized to allow more flexibility, as in Europe for example". 

Table 1. Minimum standards* for ice cream among the major ice cream-producing and consuming countries outside of the European Union

Country

Milk fat (%)

Milk protein (%)

Total milk solids (%)

Total solids (%)

Food solids per litre (g)

Weight per litre (g)

Australia

10

_a

-

-

168

-

Brazil

3b

2.5

-

-

152

475

Canada

10

-

-

36

180

-

United States

10

 

20

 

192

540

New Zealand

10

-

-

-

168

-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 


*Source: Modified from Goff and Hartel (2013)
Not specified

b  Minimum total fat is 8%, the balance can be comprised of non-dairy fat

The Food Labelling Regulations (1996) were revoked in the UK in favour of EU legislation (Food Information Regulation, (EU) No 1169/2011)

Since the review by Goff and Hartel (2013), UK regulations for ice cream, which had required that a product labelled as “ice-cream” had to contain a minimum of 5% fat (dairy fat only) and 2.5% milk protein The Food Labelling Regulations (1996) have been revoked by the introduction of EU legislation (Food Information Regulation, (EU) No 1169/2011) to align with EU regulations.

Current EU regulations for ice cream, milk ice and dairy ice cream are shown in Table 2.

Table 2.  European industry standards for ice cream, milk ice and dairy ice cream as defined by Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011

 

MSNF

Proteins

Edible fats

 

 

Dairy

Non-Dairy

Dairy

Non-Dairy

Ice Cream

 Not specified

Optional

Optional

Dairy and/or non-dairy edible fats mandatory

Milk Ice

6.0% minimum

Mandatory

Excluded

2.5% min.

Excluded

Dairy Ice Cream

 Not specified

Mandatory

Excluded

5.0% min.

Excluded

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Source: Adapted from Anon. (2013)

Clearly Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 has significant implications for ice cream manufacturers and enables the labelling of a product containing no dairy ingredients for the first time as ice cream in the UK. While this may help produce products for, say, vegans it does have potential for the production of lower quality products.

The Ice Cream Alliance, which represents the industry in the UK, has set out their recommendations (Pearman, 2015) on a minimum quality standard for ice cream in the UK. They require their members to produce a product containing a minimum of 5% fat and not less than 2.5% milk protein.  This is similar to the previous UK standard except that the origin of the fat is not specified. They have not suggested minimum standards for dairy ice cream.

Oliver Nieburg with Food Navigator has written an interesting article on the concerns of artisan ice cream makers on EU Commission rules to permit up to 5% vegetable fats other than cocoa in "ice cream" and has mentioned French politician Franck Proust's request to the European Commission to justify the rule with a written response. Proust's concern is that this rule could threaten the livelihood of artisan ice cream and gelato makers across the EU; larger manufacturers will be able to reduce costs and potentially undermine the smaller, potentially higher-quality producers of ice cream and gelato. 

 

Literature / regulations cited.

Anon. (2013). Adapted from "Code For Edible Ices, Version 2013" produced by Euroglaces and available from
http://euroglaces.eu/en/upload/docs/Edible_ices_codes/Code%20for%20Edible%20Ices%20Version%202013.pdf .

Goff, H. D. and Hartel, R. W. (2013). Ice Cream. 7th Edn.  Springer: New York.

Pearman, P. (2015). The Ice Cream Compositional Requirements laid down by the Ice Cream Alliance. Available from: <http://www.ice-cream.org>.

 
How to cite this article

Mullan, W.M.A. (2016). [On-line]. Available from: https://www.dairyscience.info/?view=article&id=296?tmpl=component&print=1&page= . Accessed: 28 March, 2024.