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
The link you posted – twice – states very clearly that Propylene Glycol is NOT an ingredient in ice cream. Did anyone read that?
Secondly, propylene glycol is antifreeze just like sodium chloride is chlorine. In other words: it's not.
There's enough fear-mongering going on at all levels. Why can't we just stick with verifiable science?
BTW, I don't eat commercial ice cream and I don't work for or even like the big food companies. But even less, I don't like innuendo and foggy "science."
Lindsay – please read the post before jumping in with a judgement. My "HUNCH" was for organic products ONLY. There is most certainly antifreeze used in regular supermarket ice creams! Sources are cited, so please click on them! As for anonymous, I am assuming you are a Big Food troll who is paid to go around anonymously on blogs like mine to deny, deny, deny to further confuse the consumer. Anonymous propaganda is not welcome here.
Thank you, Sarah, for this eye-opening information!
If ice cream were the only thing we had to worry about, that would be bad enough, but wait, there's more! No, we don't actually "eat" these other things, but perhaps we put them in our mouths, around our eyes, use them for skin care, makeup (how about your mascara?!), personal hygiene, feminine hygiene, and the list goes on – think transdermal. I know I'm a little off subject here, but I hope you'll forgive me, Sarah, it was just too closely related for me to let it go.
For more information, see Environmental Working Group's sister site, Skin Deep:
And don't miss their list of 5,626 products that they have tested that contain P.G. The hazard ratings are from 1-10 on their hazard ratings, but the hazard ratings are for the use of just one product, and does not take into account the use/consumption of multiple products. In my mind, if multiple products would mean a heavier hazard load.
I'll be looking forward to your ice cream recipe too.
Thank you Julie. I was waiting for someone to chime in with something rational.
Just because you have a hunch based on information, does not make it so. My partner coaches me on this all the time. Speculation IS speculation and not fact. Cite your sources or move on.
Where are you getting the information that propylene glycol is in all ice cream? Please give your sources. (I don't think it is true.)Commercial ice cream is not as hard right out of the freezer because commercial ice cream machines whip a lot of air into the product.
P.S.FYI- Breyer's is now called a frozen dessert and not ice cream because they have lowered the butterfat content (to cut costs)and can not legally call it ice cream anymore.
I agree Julie, I buy the Real Dairy, brand at times 50% les fat, and it is frozen when I take it out of the freezer, have to wait a couple of minutes to soften. maybe people dont have their freezer turned up high enough….. even some other brands are real hard….
I’m never surprised at how many Bandwagon jumpers there are or how quick people form opinions based on hearsay or unfounded/undisclosed sources. Glad to see I’m not the only one who finds this, TO SAY THE LEAST, questionable. I was in the ice cream biz for years and I do know ALL ingredients must be listed, PERIOD. There are a number of ways to stretch ice cream as well as effect the rate of melt, thickness, and consistency like aeration, temperature, xanthum gum, the rate of freeze in production and type of milk product used. Glycol is used across the industry to freeze ice cream, but IS NOT added to ice cream. It is considered anti-freeze, but it’s use never touches the actual product. It flows around the stainless steel molds and batch containers to speed up the freezing to meet demand. Glycol and other “antifreezes” like salt brine are used around molds to accelerate freezing, typically to about 15 mins or less. I would think, that if the FDA allows glycol in ice cream, it’s in the same way they allow rat feces in chicken, fish, and hamburger meat. Although none of us want ANYTHING in our food, but FOOD, They(USDA/FDA) know that when you make food by the metric ton there’s bound to be a tiny bit of impurities in them. Therefore they’ve determined that in every 1/2 ton, or whatver, of each poduct, there are exceptable/harmless levels of impurities. In closing, a little information is dangerous in the wrong hands.
I have seen brownies sold at the store that contained propylene glycol, it was listed in the ingredients. So it certainly is something that is used as a food ingredient or additive, and I think there is a good chance it is in ice cream as well.
Oh wow … so disgusting. I haven't had ice cream in years, as I was GFCF prior to doing SCD/GAPS. Now I make my own ice cream with coconut milk, but I feel an awful lot better about not being able to have "normal" ice cream thanks to you!
I make my own ice cream, but sometimes my daughter really wants the "store bought" kind, so I sometimes buy her the Vanilla ice cream from Julie's Organic. After reading your post, I sent them an e-mail asking about propylene glycol. They wrote me back saying that they do not use it and that they don't have ANY hidden ingredients… But the ice cream does have a very creamy consistency and never freezes, so I just don't know. Anyway, anti freeze or not, I really still prefer the stuff I make at home, with grass fed raw cream, pastured eggs and mapple syrup. The consistency will never be the same as the store bought, though.
The problem with Haagen-Daas is that it is owned by Nestle, which I and others have decided to boycott because of their unethical business practices in the marketing of infant formula.
Not sure what to do about ice cream- honestly I love it and simply don't have time to make everything that we eat, so I may have to just eat less and try to get the best possible, even with the antifreeze.
Here is another in the abundant examples of where the "Food Industry" feels compelled to put poison in our food. Most people who make ice cream know that you should put a couple of tablespoons of alcohol in it to improve the scoopability. This is mentioned in the wonderful "America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook" (in my edition: page 624). Instead of course Big Food opts to put propylene glycol rather than alcohol…..maybe to save a fraction of a cent. More reason to join the food revolution and either make you own food and/or buy from trusted local sources. The food industry can go to Hades!
Wow! Even though I don't have ice cream that often, I definitely won't be buying it at the store anymore. Where are the Food Police that tell us not to eat meat and butter?!!!! It is just so wrong for the consuming public to be treated this way by both the producers and the government!!!!
Thank you Sarah for this information. I will be checking back often for that ice cream recipe.
Gloria