Unlabeled propylene glycol, a form of antifreeze, lurks in commercial ice cream, risking health issues for those that consume it.
One thing I try to do on this site is alert folks to the sneaky, underhanded, and frequently toxic chemicals that Big Food processors add to their products.
One of these dirty little secrets is the fact that propylene glycol, a cosmetic form of antifreeze, is added to commercial ice cream. (1)
You see, when you make ice cream at home, you immediately notice that it is as hard as a rock.
This is VERY unlike store ice creams (even the organic ones) that seem to scoop out of the container so conveniently.
Homemade ice cream has to be taken out of the freezer and softened on the counter for a few minutes before you have any hope of scooping some out into a bowl.
I even store mine in a shallow, Pyrex baking dish as this makes it much easier and faster to scoop out when I want some.
Antifreeze, then, is simply ice cream manufacturers’ answer to hard as a rock ice cream and the ice crystals that inevitably form as it is shipped long distances and moved between many different freezers before it finally makes it to your supermarket.
If you’ve ever left homemade ice cream on the counter too long and then put it back in the freezer, you notice how icy it can get.
Antifreeze added to store ice cream helps prevent this from happening!
Why is Antifreeze Not Listed in Ingredients?
Sometimes when I tell folks this for the first time, they have trouble believing it. Why?
Because propylene glycol isn’t listed anywhere on the ice cream label or ingredients list.
While it may come as a shock to some of you, there is such a thing as an “Industry Standard”.
This means that if everyone does it, you don’t have to label it!
For those who need specifics, USDA reg 21 CFR 101.100 deals with labeling exemptions dealing with incidental food additives.
Nice, huh?
Where I grew up, this was called deceit.
Just because commercial ice cream manufacturers make a practice of adding a little bit of antifreeze to their ice cream, then it doesn’t have to be labeled! (2)
What About Organic?
I don’t even trust organic ice cream brands. It is way too easy to scoop out of the container straight from the freezer for my comfort level.
My efforts to confirm this one way or the other were not successful, so at this time, it is only a very strong hunch.
Just to get you a little more hot under the collar, the FDA actually had the gall to grant GRAS status to antifreeze!
What is GRAS? It is an acronym for “Generally Recognized As Safe”.
Well, isn’t that interesting? Antifreeze is safe to eat! You learn something new every day!
Wait a minute! Antifreeze safe to eat, yet a dog would probably die if a car radiator leaks in his owner’s driveway and he laps some of it up?
Ok, ok…I know that the antifreeze used in radiators is ethylene glycol (EG). However, the fact is that propylene glycol (PG) is a closely related chemical.
Studies show that it causes heart, kidney, liver, and central nervous system damage if sufficient quantity is absorbed by the body.
Propylene Glycol Contamination
In addition, depending on the manufacturing process used, propylene glycol may be contaminated with measurable amounts of ethylene oxide and 1,4-dioxane.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies ethylene oxide as a known human carcinogen and 1,4-dioxane as a possible human carcinogen.
Ethylene oxide can also harm the nervous system, and evidence has shown that it may interfere with human development.
Americans eat approximately 5X the ice cream they did 50 years ago. Hence, it is anyone’s guess what the long-term effects of frequent consumption of small amounts of PG might be.
So, ethylene glycol will kill you quickly and propylene glycol will kill you slowly and perhaps painfully. That seems to be the gist of it to me.
Beware of maple syrup too. If it isn’t labeled organic, chances are propylene glycol was used in the production process as well.
Side Effects of Eating Antifreeze
Many people might wonder why whenever you eat commercial ice cream or devour an ice cream cone at the Mall, the next day you might seem to have a very close relationship to the bathroom.
Turns out that a side effect of consuming antifreeze is loose bowels, even diarrhea.
Propylene glycol is even used to clean out the bowel before surgery and for conventional colonoscopy preparation.
It is also a primary ingredient in some over-the-counter constipation meds!
Other Unlabeled Toxins
By the way, there are MANY other chemicals added to commercial ice cream that are toxic and unlabeled.
Piperonal, for example, is used in place of vanilla and is a chemical used to kill head lice.
So, you’re not even safe getting a basic flavor like plain vanilla ice cream! (3)
Watch out for so-called “premium” ice creams like Jack Nicklaus Ice cream. Even the ludicrously named “Homemade Vanilla” has zero vanilla actually in it. You get to pay extra for …. chemicals!
What if the ingredients label lists vanilla?
Does this mean there is no piperonal in there? Not necessarily.
A mixture of piperonal and vanilla could be used with the vanilla listed (to make the customer happy) and the piperonal not listed (to fool the customer and increase profits).
Not surprisingly, piperonal is cheaper to use than vanilla.
Food manufacturers are really good at cat and mouse games and are virtuosos at playing the USDA regulations.
Are Any Brands Safe?
I recently received an email about this post that inquired as to whether ANY brands of commercial ice cream are safe.
My reply was to examine the ice cream brand you like. Is it scoopable very quickly (immediately or within a few minutes) of removing from the freezer?
If so, it almost certainly contains unlabeled propylene glycol. Even organic brands are suspiciously scoopable. But, they can add unlabeled PG too since the FDA inexplicably granted this chemical GRAS status.
I personally have not found ANY brand that is as hard as homemade. This is my test of purity.
The only exception is the locally made ice cream from my grassfed farmer. It is hard as a rock just like the ice cream I make myself.
How to Naturally Soften Ice Cream
So, if you aren’t into eating antifreeze with your ice cream, check out my recipe plus a video demonstration on how to make healthy ice cream!
It uses a very small amount of vodka to keep the ice cream naturally and safely scoopable!
(1, 2) Foods & Drinks With Propylene Glycol
(3) Harmful Chemicals Turn Ice Cream From a Treat to a Threat
Perhaps the ice cream isn’t soft because your feezer isn’t cold enough? (Just a thought).
Or, because the store bought containers dont allow the product to freeze the same way your home made stuff would (in pyrex or tupperware)?
I find it interesting that all of you who are concerned with what you’re putting in your bodies are eating so much ice cream. Usually if you have your own ice cream maker, that means you eat quite a bit. I’d be more concerned with the number of calories you’re consuming instead of the harmless, yes harmless, chemicals you’re putting in your body.
But let’s talk about the article. Propylene glycol is not antifreeze. To make such a claim is worse than what the author is accusing the FDA and the big name companies of doing. The main attraction to using propylene glycol (PG) in any product is that it creates a bond between everything in the product keeping them from separating. (Similar to why you need eggs to bake a cake) Who wants to shake their hand cream or any make up products prior to use? I can’t imagine antifreeze, of which PG is only a part, working very well if the ingredients kept separating the way water and oil do. Do you know what small ‘mom and pop’ type places use to make milkshakes that aren’t clumpy? Raw eggs. I’d be more concerned about salmonella than any side effects of PG.
If you do even the most simplest forms of research, ie. looking up antifreeze on wikipedia, you’ll find that ETHYLENE glycol is the main ingredient of antifreeze, not propylene glycol. When is PG used? When consumers want to buy a NON-TOXIC antifreeze. That’s right, PG is used in the non-toxic form of antifreeze, safe to leave around pets and small children.
I find it comical that so many people are throwing away products that contain a chemical that’s used in, and definitely not equal to, antifreeze. Non-toxic antifreeze at that. If you ask me, which I know you didn’t but I’ll give you an answer anyway, the author of this article, and those like her, is doing more harm to this world, by creating fear in all of her readers, than any questionable member of the FDA ever could.
So TO THE AUTHOR: since you have the power to convince the majority of your readers to throw out many of their products, eat an unhealthy amount of ice cream and believe every lie and unfounded ‘fact’ you spew at them, please pick a topic that wont create more fear in a world where 1 in 5 people have mental health issues, a stat that is continuing to climb. You, and people like you, are partly responsible for a lot of depression and paranoia out there. PLEASE stop.
But propylene glycol isn’t ethylene glycol. Propylene glycol helps keeps things in suspension, as an emulsifier, and as a humectant. It helps keep salad dressing stay a mixture of oil and vinegar, helps thicken yogurt, and keeps chewing gum from drying out. C3H8O2 is not the same as C2H6O2, which is a coolant and heat transfer agent. The propylene glycol in ice cream doesn’t keep it cold, it makes it thick.
And California almonds labeled “raw” must be steam-pasteurized or chemically treated with propylene oxide. Propylene oxide is an organic compound. This colourless volatile liquid is produced on a large scale industrially, its major application being its use for the production of polyether polyols for use in making polyurethane plastics. Propylene oxide was once used as a racing fuel, but that usage is now prohibited under the US NHRA rules for safety reasons. It has also been usedin glow fuel for modelaircraftandsurface vehicles, typically combined in small percentages of around 2% as an additive to the typical methanol, nitromethane, and oil mix. It is also used in thermobaric weapons, and microbial fumigation.
Fumigant: The United States Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of propylene oxide to pasteurize raw almonds beginning on September 1, 2007 in response to two incidents of contamination by Salmonella in commercial orchards, one incident occurring inCanada,anone incident in the United States. Pistachio nuts can also be subjected to propylene oxide to
control Salmonella. It is a method approved by the FDA. [6][7]
I get comments like Corinne’s on this post of mine as well. http://raisingnaturalkids.com/2012/02/08/whats-really-in-your-food-you-may-never-know/ – it’s frustrating because no matter what, there are chemicals being put in food that I don’t want to eat and that I want to be aware of!
Dawn,
This article is a scare tactic and anti capitalism rhetoric. It is a harmless additive. If you want all natural, eat Breyer’s Ice Cream like I do. I actually prefer it. That is great that you want all natural healthy kids but sometimes it is more costly and some consumers cannot afford to buy a $7.00 half gallon of ice cream. The couple of bucks difference may seem small to you or I, but to a large struggling family, buying all of your groceries at Whole Foods does not make economic sense. I think it is irresponsible of the author of the article to mislead the readers.
Propylene glycol is NOT anti-freeze. It is a chemical compound that is found in anti-freeze, yes, but so is another one… H2O. Will you stop drinking water because you believe that one piece of the whole is the same substance as the whole? No.
One study states: “The results of these experiments in conjunction with the absence of any observed ill effects in patients exposed to both triethylene glycol and propylene glycol vapors for months at a time, provide assurance that air containing these vapors in amounts up to the saturation point is completely harmless.”
According to the Health Canada website, “…there are no endpoints of concern for oral, dermal or inhalation exposure to propylene glycol based on the low toxicity observed in studies near or above testing limit doses. Based on this, the USEPA did not conduct any quantitative human health risk assessments and concluded that exposure does not present a human health risk of concern.”
Stop spreading misinformation and making people more afraid to be alive and eat the foods they enjoy. Although I am 100% behind the idea of being aware of what you’re putting into your body, the FDA and other agencies exist for a reason, and they are not trying to poison the human population as you may think.
Mike, you took the words right out of my mouth.
I did a lot of research on PG before I started smoking ecigs. As I understand it, some people do have allergic reactions to it, so maybe some of the people leaving comments have experienced that. But that doesn’t make it poison – are peanuts poison? Are eggs? Are shellfish?
Really? Anything that lowers the freezing temperature of water is antifreeze. Propylene and ethylene glycol, for sure, but also things like ethanol, salt, glucose, and even vitamin C. If you can dissolve it in water, the resulting solution will have a lower freezing temperature than water.
You say that it can kill you when sufficient quantities are absorbed by the body. Same goes for all the above substances, including water. Too much of ANYTHING will kill you.
Do you know how much commercially prepared ice cream you would have to eat in order to get propylene glycol poisoning? Neither do I, but as has been pointed out above, you’d have to inject pure propylene glycol directly into your bloodstream to get toxic plasma levels, so you’d die of a ruptured stomach, or even malnutrition, long before you’d consumed enough through your ice cream.
I hope you’re not asthmatic, because if you use an inhaler, you’re inhaling propylene glycol every time you use it. Yep. Propylene glycol is the carrier in asthma inhalers.
This “article” is ignorant fearmongering at its finest.
Piperonal is also a component in actual vanilla pods. dun dah daaaaaaaaaaaaa! 8^O
Piperonal is a naturally occurring component of the oils from many plants. Chemically, it’s very similar to vanillin and tends to get used in things that have a vanilla like aroma – quite a few perfumes have it in them. It’s not particularly bad for you in the minute amounts it’s used in. Not as bad as all that sugar anyway. It’s used in delicer because they don’t particularly like the smell, but it smells nice to humans. Numerous strong smelling oils will drive insects away as it disrupts their pheromone based method of sense / communication, e.g. menthol -> clothing harassing moths.