We already know about fast-food items that don't spoil for decades, but ice cream that doesn't melt adds a new wrinkle to the conversation on what we put in food to preserve it. That's the current topic of discussion in China, where consumers are demanding to know what's in a high-end ice cream brand after revelations that it won't drip, even when exposed to high temps and fire, reports the South China Morning Post. According to state media, the hubbub started when a video circulated on social media that demonstrated a user taking a lighter to a sample of Zhong Xue Gao ice cream—known as the "Hermes of ice cream" in China. The lighter-torched ice cream didn't melt, the video showed, though the state media report notes there was smoke from the point of contact with the flame, as well as a burning odor.
Another social media post had previously drawn attention, after a user showed how the brand's salt coconut ice cream got stickier but didn't melt after being exposed to 87-degree temps for nearly an hour. While the company says ingredients in that particular flavor include milk, cream, and other natural-sounding ingredients, it concedes that each 78-gram product contains 0.032 grams of carrageenan, a thickener extracted from red seaweed, per the Global Times. Although carrageenan is widely used in food products as a thickener and gelling agent, there's been some controversy around it, as some scientists have linked it to digestive issues, rheumatoid arthritis, and even colon cancer. Other researchers, however, say those claims are iffy.
The Zhong Xue Gao development is said to be especially irksome to consumers due to currently inflated prices for most ice cream brands in China, which industry experts say is because of higher production and distribution costs, per a Chinese business news daily. The company is pushing back on the backlash, however, and scoffing at the user experiments that exposed its non-melty product. Customer service reps claim the ice cream will indeed melt in about three to five minutes, if you give it a chance. "We think it is not a scientific way to judge the quality of an ice cream by heating it," the company said in a statement, per Asia News Network. "And we will cooperate with related authorities and welcome the public and media to investigate this issue and popularize science." A Shanghai market watchdog says it's investigating the reports. (More ice cream stories.)
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