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
After reading this article, I paid more attention to the ingredient labels and found some soft butter in my frig and read the label on it. On the label was listed propylene glycol, antifreeze. The government is trying to kill us. I will not be buying any more ice-cream or soft butter!
Just because two chemicals are similar does not mean that they have ANY similar properties. Please refrain from blatantly confounding antifreeze and propylene glycol- it’s a scare tactic not based on any real logic or science.
OH… MY… GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Miralax – for constipation – PURE Propylene Glycol
Nitrogen in it’s pure form is a poison, but makes up almost 80% of the air that you breathe every single day ((http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/chemweek/pdf/airgas.pdf) notice the .edu) , so I don’t know that this bit of information is actually at all relevant to the discussion.
Miralax is Polyethelene Glycol!!
I believe you will find that if you melt a cup of ice cream you will have less than a cup when it is ‘done’ melting. One of the reasons for that is the large amount of air whipped into some brands of ice cream so they are easier to scoop. They are, in effect, ‘whipped’ ice cream. That, more than any non-labeled antifreeze, likely explains the difference in your homemade stuff vs. the store-bought.
Really!? Propylene glycol is used in so many products…this doesn’t even touch the extent of its use. Even many injectible medications use it as a solvent. It’s in shampoo, toothpaste, moisturizers, and many, many food products on the market. But to scare the public into thinking this products is like antifreeze!? Propylene glycol is metabolized into propylene glycol is metabolized in the human body into pyruvic acid (a normal part of the glucose-metabolism process, readily converted to energy), acetic acid (handled by ethanol-metabolism), lactic acid (a normal acid generally abundant during digestion),[9] and propionaldehyde.[10][11] Serious toxicity generally occurs only at plasma concentrations over 1 g/L, which requires extremely high intake over a relatively short period of time.[12].
Take a basic life chemistry course before you post something so ridiculous!
9.^ Hamilton, D. J. “Gastric Dyspepsia.” The Lancet. Volume 2 1890: p306.
10.^ Miller DN, Bazzano G (1965) Propanediol metabolism and its relation to lactic acid metabolism. Ann NY Acad Aci, 119: 957-973.
11.^ Ruddick JA (1972) Toxicology, metabolism, and biochemistry of 1,2-propanediol. Toxicol App Pharmacol, 21: 102-111.
12.^ Flanagan RJ;Braithwaite RA;Brown SS;Widdop B;de Wolff FA;. The International Programme on Chemical Safety: Basic Analytical Toxicology. WHO, 1995.
I did some research too…comparing the toxicity of ethylene glycol to propylene glycol is a silly comparison. The difference between ethylene glycol and propylene glycol is one carbon in the chain. Incidentally, that’s the same difference between methanol and ethanol. We all know methanol is deadly in small amounts, while we all ingest ethanol regularly. But, to be more scientific:
LDLo – lowest known lethal dose
LD50 – dose known to cause mortality in 50% of the population
Methanol: human (adult) oral LDLo: 428 mg/kg
Ethanol: oral child LDLo: 2000 mg/kg
Ethylene glycol: oral human (adult) LDLo: 786 mg/kg
oral rat LD50: 4700 mg/kg
Propylene glycol: oral rat LD50: 20000 mg/kg (!)(no human info listed)
All info taken from the MSDS (Material safety data sheets) here: http://msds.chem.ox.ac.uk/
The only disturbing part of any of this is that all those rats died so that folks like Sarah could be assured, beyond a shadow of a doubt, of a chemical’s safety, and they don’t even respect the sacrifice. (Of course, this comment is rather irrelevant, since this chemical, as has been pointed out, is not actually to be found in most ice creams).
Thank you Amy for the note of sanity!
Just great. First Beaver Anal Gland (see Jamie Oliver talk about it: in Ice cream, and now antifreeze. Good heaven. I guess it is time to dust off the ice cream maker and start making our own. This is just ridiculous.