Breyers Natural Ice Cream and Tara Gum: Unilever’s Response
September 11th, 2006Remember cute Breyers commercials where the little boy reads the back of a non-Breyers ice cream container and can’t pronounce the artificial ingredients? Then he picks up a container of Breyers and can pronounce all of the ingredients because there are only four well-known natural ingredients: milk, cream, sugar, natural flavors. Well, now there is a fifth: tara gum. No, it’s not as scary to pronounce as cargenceen and gaur gum; but it’s not the simple ice cream that was formerly advertised. Tara gum is a new ingredient that Breyers has added to their ice creams to make them creamier.
Admittedly, when I first reviewed Breyers Natural Vanilla ice cream it didn’t even occur to me to look at the ingredients. A commenter informed me that the Breyers Natural Vanilla recipe was no longer as simple– tara gum had been added. Sure enough, I looked at the ingredients on the package and there it was. Since then, I have spent some time investigating this new addition to Breyers ice cream and will discuss my findings in a 4 part series. Today, in the first story of the series, I will outline the basics about tara gum and detail Breyers response to some questions I asked them. In the upcoming weeks I will post a taste test comparing Breyers All Natural Vanilla with and without tara gum, specify odd ingredients in other brands’ ice creams, and conclude with a story about the future of ice cream ingredients.
Tara gum is a natural ingredient from the tara tree, a plant commonly found in South America and Africa. Studies have shown it to be safe for human consumption. New Zealand and Australia Food Standards approved it as did the World Health Organization. However, the results of these studies were not entirely positive, as tara gum is indigestible and causes various problems when consumed in high quantities (>5%) by rats and dogs. Though, most humans will not consume this amount of tara gum and should not have anything to worry about.
Due to my curiosity about tara gum I contacted Unilever (the parent company of Breyers) with a number of questions about the product. These questions included:
When tara gum was first added to Breyers ice cream?
Is tara gum (or a similar substance) added to all of the Breyers ice creams or only
certain flavors? Also, is it added to other Unilever brands, such as Ben and Jerry’s?
Is there any plan to add tara gum to other brands of ice creams in the future?
Does the addition have anything to do with the Double Churned ice cream that is now being
sold?
Why was it decided that tara gum should be added to the ice cream?
Have you received complaints about the new additive?
A PR representative from GolinHarris got back to me with the following response:
In response to your questions regarding the use of tara gum in its ice cream, Breyers is proud of its all-natural heritage. It’s a position we take very seriously and one we work hard to maintain. We value the confidence our customers have in our products and go to great lengths to ensure exceptional quality and great taste.
So when consumers expressed concern over the texture of our products, we responded. By adding a natural gum to Breyers All Natural Vanilla ice cream, we’ve helped to protect the product’s texture while staying true to our all-natural commitment. We use tara gum from natural plant sources to help Breyers ice cream stay creamier and more enjoyable for longer periods of time.
Because ice cream is temperature-sensitive, this addition has further allowed us to ensure the ice cream’s quality throughout it distribution. As you can imagine, ice cream’s taste and texture can be unfavorably affected if exposed to temperature fluctuations during shipping or storage. Our customers describe the problem as ice cream with a “gritty” or “grainy” texture. In fact, growing distribution and increased handling of our ice cream in the marketplace has indeed resulted in greater chances for temperature abuse and heightened potential for texture problems.
Clearly, Unilever’s/Breyers response didn’t address the majority of my questions, which made me think that they’re not completely convinced that tara gum fits into the category of traditionally “natural products.” So my curiosity about this mysterious ingredient intensified and I decided more research was necessary. Stay tuned for my findings as I explore and analyze the ingredients of non-Breyers ice creams. Is this tara gum phenomenon is unique to Breyers or is it an industry-wide trend?
September 13th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
Guess what? I recently wrote a similar inquiry/feedback to Breyer’s regarding my abject horror at the fact that it has changed the once pure, simple, wholesome, high-quality, classic ingredients of its Mint Chip to now contain gums, coconut oil and faux chocolate chips instead of real chocolate chips. I received the EXACT SAME RESPONSE as you did, verbatim. What I really find reprehensible about it is that they tried to convince me (us) that it is partially due to customer demand that they changed the ingredients. Ha! I don’t see a huge number of customers clamouring for gums to be added to a formerly perfect, wonderful product. Furthermore, if they are concerned about the texture being hurt by “temperature abuse” during shipping, then they should shell out more $$$ to ensure consistent freezing temps. during shipping, NOT change the quality and ingredients of the ice cream so that it is, in fact, no longer really ice cream, but merely a faux representation, the artist formerly known as Breyer’s Mint Chip. *sigh*
September 13th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
P.S. Forgot to say: Breyer’s Mint Chip used to be my very, very, very fave ice cream, as well as one of my top five fave foods, period. The change in ingredients ended that. I will no longer buy Breyer’s, because to me it isn’t really Breyer’s anymore, it is a mere shadow of its former self. They (Unilever) took a classic, wonderful, pure, high-quality product and turned it into just another faux food on the American supermarket shelves (or refrigerated section, as the case may be). So sad.
September 15th, 2006 at 11:19 pm
I too am very disapointed by the addition of ANY ingredient to the basic four (milk, cream, sugar and vanilla beans) to Breyers NATURAL Vanilla ice cream. Unilever, the war is on!!!!
September 16th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
In the area where I live (Bellevue, WA) Breyers without gums still shows up sometimes at natural/whole food stores. These stores always sell it at full price. Traditional grocery stores sell Breyers with Tara gum, but often at substantial discounts. The correlation between the availability of Breyers without Tara gum and the time-average sale price makes me think that Breyers introduced Tara gum to extract what economists call “consumer surplus” out of those of us who don’t like gums and are willing to pay to avoid them.
September 20th, 2006 at 10:03 pm
My wife recently brought home Breyers French Vanilla. I took one taste and said to myself,”Oh, no, what have they done?”. Read the carton and there it was, “natural tara gum”(as opposed to synthetic tara gum. Slimy oily and artificial feeling, I HATE IT!!!
Looks like a coup for haagen daaz.
September 29th, 2006 at 9:53 pm
It’s even worse in Canada. There seems to be much more selection of quality-tasting natural ice creams readily available (i.e. in the supermarket) south of the border. The one shining light WAS Breyer’s All Natural Vanilla (”with real vanilla bean specs”.) I say was…….how was I made aware of the changes to their recipe? A blog? Advertising? No….TASTE!! Something changed! Then I look and see “now double churned”….name change to “Naturally Flavoured Ice Cream”….next I look at the ingredient list….my God!!! You’re talking about “tara gum.” The crap they’re giving us up here reads like your average cheap ice cream…”mono- and diglyderides, cellulose gum, guar gum, polysorbate 80, carrageenan….” Frankly, I don’t care so much about the potential health issues related to these ingredients…..it’s the taste I care about. It’s the taste that made me read the label when it was “all natural.” It’s that taste that made me an “all natural” bigot. It’s the taste of the new “Naturally flavoured…” that made me read the label again….and it’s that taste that will keep me from buying Breyer’s again. What a shame…..I guess I’ll have to smuggle Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla across the border.
Just as an FYI I just visited both Breyers.ca and Breyers.com. It appears you can still get “Breyer’s All Natural” in the U.S…this is probably the almost all natural you refer to above (with the Tara gum.) It seems that in Canada we’ve been relegated to the “naturally flavoured ice cream” I refer to above. Count yourself lucky….more “natural” than we have here…and you still have Blue Bell to boot!
September 30th, 2006 at 2:58 am
I am also dissapointed in the tara gum addition. I will be writing to Breyers about this, and let them know that I will not be purchasing any more of their “All Natural” ice cream if it contains tara gum. It just doesn’t taste the same.
Tara gum, blech!!
I’ll start making the homemade kind in the Cuisinart ice cream maker.
October 6th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
I was also dissapointed to find the new ‘natural’ additive to Breyer’s vanilla, so much so that I visited Unilevers web site and sent a complaint letter. They responded with 3 free coupons for more ice cream and a form letter similar to yours.
The original additive that I complained about was carob bean gum and I think they replaced it with tara gum because consumers looked it up and found it came from the locust plant (sounds like insects in your ice cream). I have also seen containers with guar gum.
I think they are still experimenting with the recipe. I will keep looking for a natural half gallon at local natural stores (I live near Wash D.C). I have bought Breyer’s natural vanilla for over 30 years and I have completely stopped buying their product now that it contains carob/tara/guar gum.
This reminds me of the new Coke episode. Maybe Unilever will reintroduce the classic Breyer’s Natural someday.
October 7th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
I recently got this question from a reader and would like for others to comment on it:
“I have created and am selling raw organic pies and cocoa cakes and have been using and have been aware of Tara gum for the past few years….. I am growing in leaps and bounds and would like your opinion on the use of tara gum as a natural ingredient. I am sort of convincing myself that it is as natural as you can get in that all important quest for creaminess and gelling effects. Do you see it becoming more accepted in the natural , and organic community?
thanks , be healthy,,, Diana”
October 11th, 2006 at 10:28 am
I wrote a song called World Famous Chef about how we get ripped off in restaurants. I was feeling like Breyers was pulling a fast one. I was writing a blog about it, and came upon your article. I gave you credit in my write-up. Thanks for the info. I also sent a complaint to unilver. Here are my thoughts as blogged…
Elton Costello
—————————–
What is going on with Breyer’s Ice Cream?
I was born and raised in Philadelphia. I remember wondering when Breyer’s was sold to Good Humor if any changes would take place.
Breyer’s is the “all natural” ice cream. Isn’t it? It always was. That’s what it was known for. It’s “calling card” as you might say.
I’ve kept quiet as little changes began. First there was the downsizing from a half gallon to 1.75 quarts. I can’t blame Breyers too much for this. Since every other ice cream maker was doing the same thing.
I kept quiet when suddenly all kinds of mix-ins that weren’t natural began getting stirred into my favorite ice cream. I kept quiet as the words “all natural” began being dropped from more and more of the newer flavors. I kept quiet as a more and more un-natural options like “extra creamy” and everything from candy to brownies ending up in my favorite recipe.
I am noticing new and alarming changes. I remember it used to be Milk, Cream, Fruit, Sugar and possibly some all natural flavoring like cocoa for the chocolate. This is changing my dear friends.
I remember I used to pick up a Pint of Chocolate Ice Cream and bring it to my grandmother for a treat. She wasn’t supposed to eat too much of that so it was always
kind of a sweet moment. My grandmother passed away many years ago, but I’ve always
maintained a bit of a connection to her each time I put a spoonful of Breyer’s Chocolate Ice Cream in my mouth.
I should have known there was going to be trouble when I picked up the new package which proudly proclaimed “New Richer Chocolate Taste!” If it is newer and richer you’d think it would taste a little different. It doesn’t. Although for some reason the consistency. The special way Breyers would melt in your mouth unlike any other ice cream was no longer happening. I do notice now the ingredients include “natural tara gum.” Why does that sound so “un-natural” to me. I guess now that Breyers is owned by Unilever anything can happen now.
Ah hah…. i just did a search for “Natural Tara Gum” and found an article online from “A Daily Scoop” from Sept. 11 2006. It appears my instinct was right on. Tara gum was added to avoid problems with temperature changes while shipping ice cream. When ice cream melts and is refrozen, it has a gritty taste which warns the customer that it is no longer fresh. Tara gum puts an end to that. The ice cream can melt and then be refrozen and us consumers will have little clue.
I got the clue. I got the lack of flavor. I got the loss of connection of those flavorful afternoons with my grandmother. Take paradise and put up a parking lot.
All good things come to an end. Breyer’s is now “The Un-natural Ice Cream.” It is so devilish now that it dares to call itself by its former name.
October 16th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
DITTO!! THIS IS SOOOOOO SAD!! It’s sad that corporate america doesn’t truly care about their consumers… and it is sad that there are consumers out there that don’t care what corporate america feeds them!
October 21st, 2006 at 7:20 pm
I love ice cream- especially chocolate and me and my mom always get breyers ice cream when its on sale.I was just going to have some- and I look at the ingredient list and what do I see but tara gum!It is really gross thinking of the fact that I have gum in my ice cream. I agree that tara gum should not be included in Breyers icecream. I used to be able to look at Breyers and see only milk cream sugar and cocoa. I will never eat Breyers the same way again.
October 21st, 2006 at 8:42 pm
Huh!!! My wife thought I was crazy when I told her Breyers Natural Vanilla was no longer natural. The first spoonful was all it took for me to run over to the carton and look at the ingredients and sure enough there was this thing called tara gum in my ice cream. I came across this website when I was searching for proof that Breyers changed their ingredients. I guess the only all natural ice cream left out there in supermartkets is Hagen Daz
October 25th, 2006 at 7:15 pm
Thank you for your post. I remember Breyers from my childhood. It was the only ice cream my mother would buy. As an adult, I have insisted only on Breyers, until now. The tara gum affects the ice cream taste. From now on, I will be making my own ice cream, unless I can find another all natural product.
November 2nd, 2006 at 1:09 am
I believe gum was added to Breyers vanilla as a result of a Consumer Report review in the last year or so. CU downgraded Breyers vanilla as not creamy enough. As I read the review I knew Unilever would be making changes. This is a Dutch owned company with no knowledge of Breyers history and the loyalty of their customers, especially in Philadelphia where I am from. The first thing they did was close the original plant and move from the city.
I have been eating Breyers vanilla almost exclusively for over 55 years, but no more. The gum make the ice cream slimy and taste less cold. Yes, less cold. I don’t know how that happens but some ice creams are colder than others.
The old Breyers owners made excellent Ice Cream in order to make money, Unilever is out to make money, period. I hope their changes fail in the marketplace and they will go back to their old recipes. Only then will I buy Breyers.
November 11th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
Somebody I know looked up Tara Gum and found that researchers who fed Tara Gum to rats observed a brain mass increase and a liver mass decrease. Perhaps not the worst thing imaginable, but not particularly reassuring either.
November 17th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
I was so disgusted with the Breyers French Vanilla “Double Churned” crap my wife brought home last night that I had to see if anyone else cared. Glad to see there are others!!! We’ve bought the Breyers “black label” for years based on its natural ingredients and have avoided the Breyers “blue label”, which typically sold for a couple bucks less, because it was full of the standard garbage you see in low end ice creams (you know, the ones with the list of ingredients you can’t pronounce, the ones that don’t melt when left out in the sun for hours, the ones that have the consistency of marshmallow because they’re so whipped up in an effort to increase the volume (and profit margin) by providing less actual product in the same misleading sized carton…) Well isn’t it interesting that Unilever (The Jerks) are now marketing the “blue label” junk as the “black label” high end product. They even believe consumers are idiots enough to fall for the “double churned” creamier “taste” marketing gimmick. Anyhow, not only will we not go near any Breyers product from now on, but we will also avoid anything from Unilever (The Jerks). They’ve ruined a product (just like Nestle did to the Kit Kat when they bought Rowntree, one of England’s great chocolate makers). Goodbye Breyers, hello Metropolitan (one of Toronto’s butt kicking local brands - their Almond Crunch is to die for…)
November 19th, 2006 at 1:06 am
Yesterday i bought a Vanilla Breyers Classic 2L from my depanneur in Canada, thinking that it was the same old “natural real ice cream Breyers”. As I ferociously ate the 2L myself, i decided to take a look at the ingredients and enjoy a biological and healhty buy. What I get is/ which are additives with possible cancer links:
- modified milk ingredients
- milk ingredients sugar
- glucose
- mono and diglyderides
- cellulose gum
- guar gum
- polysorbate 80 [cancer risk]
- carrageenan [cancer risk]
- artificial flavour [cancer risk]
seriously i wish i didnt eat that. That will be the alst time ill buy ice cream anymore. And they say cancer is increasing pffff
November 27th, 2006 at 12:27 am
Yeppers, I noticed this change about a year ago…I will never buy breyers again. Too bad though, because other than their chocolate(that I really love) they had orange sherbet with vanilla, gosh that was good!..oh well!
November 30th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
I too noticed this change, in my beloved Breyer’s All Natural Vanilla formula, in the summer, and wrote in protest. I asked several questions, and warned them they were moving away from the heritage of quality that Breyer’s owned and that made them a great brand, and into dangerous “food chemists rule” territory.
They sent me the BS press release response above and a coupon for one Breyer’s product, up to $6. I just finally used it, to get a GALLON of their vanilla, at a BJ’s (using a free trial membership they sent me.). (Usual price $5.99.)
Despite my scorn and intent never to buy from Breyer’s again I have bought a single 7/8 half gallon (another ripoff all the major ice cream makers plainly colluded in) of the vanilla since noticing the change. It was not as good as before, noticeably - - the puffy character of most commercial ice creams and not the good natural flavor of before. But it seemed pretty good.
This full gallon size, however, is FAR WORSE ,though it lists the same ingredients as before - - milk, cream, sugar, natural flavoring, and, lastly, tara gum.
I can’t taste vanilla at all in it. I can’t imagine how it can contain as many specks of real vanilla bean as it appears to (or are those floor sweepings?) and not have more vanilla taste. I even added some natural vanilla and stirred it in and could hardly get its taste, though I put in a lot.
Instead of melting to a beautiful, clean milk-and-cream-tasting white puddle with wonderful vanilla taste, it melts into a gluey yellow slightly grainy thin pudding, with a taste of its own that’s hard to put a label on but is I’d say slightly metallic. I think the tara gum interferes with the taste of the vanilla.
I’m wondering if the bulk product sold in the chain discount setting is actually made with more of the gum added than the 7/16-gallon sizes sold in most supermarkets. It’s a pretty poor product. By the way, it was made apparently in April 2006.
I also noticed that after tara gum appeared in the vanilla, it also appeared in what I thought was the last bastion of natural, Breyer’s chocolate (cocoa, really) ice cream. It was already in all their lesser flavors so now the rout is complete.
I just googled tara gum and it’s really tara bean gum, from a shrub that’s pictured on some websites and is plainly a member of the pea or bean family and looks just like a variety of locust tree. One company grows it in Peru where it’s native and another grows or at least processes it on Majorca.
The idea that people have complained about grittiness in Breyer’s Vanilla doesn’t go far with me. Sure it was a minor annoyance, especially if you left the container out at home and re-froze it, but it went with the product, which used to be so glorious people didn’t mind that aspect. And today’s food distribution and sales outlets are far more temperature conscious and consistent in handling frozen product than ever before - - spoilage in stores or in transit just doesn’t happen, at least not often.
Ice cream, even the hand-churned homemade type, is made with a certain amount of “overmix,” the percentage of entrained air. The crap brands are whipped up with a lot of air, the quality ones have less and weigh more per unit. I think Breyer’s added this gum in part to sell us more air, but the original recipe version had disappeared from the supermarket cases by the time I noticed the change so I didn’t get to make a weight comparison between full containers of the two.
I’ve been meaning to write Breyer’s back and say, “You CAN’T do this to us or to yourselves.”
I now will, along with more full complaints and requests for specific answers to specific questions. I urge others to do the same.
The one big problem is, there’s almost NO alternative for most buyers other than making their own ice cream - - even Haagen-Dazs, I believe, has gums or thickeners in its product, and it sure ain’t cheap to buy. There is a Cold Stone Creamery store in my little city; I’ll have to check their ingredients.
In my letter I reminded Breyer’s that the connotations of cheapness and fakery associated with the word “ersatz” came from its use in the first artificial flavorings and replacement foods, brought to us by the wonderful food chemists of Germany a century or more ago. They are selling us ersatz ice cream now.
December 12th, 2006 at 9:44 pm
Someone needs to make sure someone important at Unilever reads this thread. Emphasis on “important” as its easy to see someone deciding this is a fringe group of health nuts. I’m here for the same reason as many of you: the Breyers we just bought was of a cheap rubbery consistency and tasted funny and I wanted more information. Furthermore it is sitting in my stomach like I just ate a spoonful of newspaper. I checked the ingredients and noticed the new gum and “natural” flavors whatever those are. Obviously a “natural flavor” is something they’d rather not publish the real name of. Anyway I’ll be switching brands not out of nostalgia or outrage or health reasons .. simply because this new product is inferior to many of the natural or organic brands I can find locally. Breyers is losing customers becuase their ice cream is no longer appealing to us ordinary folks who appreciate the consistency and taste of normal ice cream. I’m sure they were expecting this and determined the savings from longer shelf-life, longer distribution chains, cheaper products, and what-not would outweigh the loss of some percentage of their customers. But as word spreads they may lose more people than they bargained for. If they’ll make more money by going back, even if its with a price hike, they will do so.
December 18th, 2006 at 2:29 am
We can do our part and edit the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breyers entry to include the growing tara gum controversy. See if that can’t turn some corporate heads at Unilever!
December 18th, 2006 at 6:07 am
The first time I tasted real ice-cream was in teen survival class in Jr. High School. We made it from scratch and added our own fresh blackberries. I never tasted anything like it, it was incredible. I bought my own ice-cream maker and started making my own. As life became more complicated I no longer had time to churn my own ice-cream I figured there has got to be an ice-cream sold in the supermarket that is a little closer then the typical local store brands. I started experimenting with different brands. I tried Breyers chocolate chip mint. I was amazed. It tasted like someone ground up mint leaves with cream, sugar and vanilla beans and added some high grade chocolate chips. I looked at the ingredients and it looked as if that’s pretty much what they did. Finally! I found an ice cream that tasted like home made. I’ve been eating Breyers ice-cream ever since.
I noticed the recent introduction of the Heath Bar and Reese’s peanut butter cup flavors with a huge list of ingredients. I was a little disappointed thinking that does not fallow with the impression I had about Breyers ice-cream. Then I thought they most be doing it to stay competitive. I figured they can do whatever they want with all the new flavors just don’t touch the core all natural flavor variety.
Well they finally did. It’s almost as if there is corporate money making machine in charge now and no human capable of a rational thought. How could a company make such a huge mistake? Someone made a reference to the infamous “New Coke†blunder. I hope it’s the same type of scenario. If not I guess we should all feel fortunate that we got to taste a little piece of history. I bet up until the introduction of the tar gum ingredient the taste wasn’t too far from what William A. Breyer’s original masterpiece taste like back in 1866. Now it’s just processed crap like most of the other ice-cream on the supermarket shelf today. I guess no recipe is sacred, corporations will change anything to try and make an extra buck.
As a consumer purchasing a product is like casting a vote. I will not be voting for Breyers ice-cream any longer and neither should anyone else.
December 19th, 2006 at 2:55 am
I just went out and bought Breyers because it was the one ice cream I knew was good. I came home and started eating when all the sudden I realized it had changed. As it started melting it got that consistancy of foam like the rest of the crap ice creams do. Then I looked at the ingreediants and to my horror they had changed and started adding gum crap. What a mistake they made. I won’t be buying their ice cream anymore sad to say. It really is a shame because I used to brag to everyone how great Breyers was. Now it’s a joke.
December 24th, 2006 at 10:58 pm
Thanks for the tip about wikipedia. Just went there and left some info.
December 25th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
You got three coupons when you complained? Maybe I didn’t complain loud enough, I got just one
of course, I sent it back and suggested where they could file it…
Here, too, the 1.75 “cheater” container. I started eating Breyers (the Philadelpia kind) as a kid and was overjoyed when it made it to the west coast. I felt the quality had slipped but like the horse in Animal Farm… I was still faithful because Breyers was [i]my[/i] brand.
Then came this schtick with the container swichero. First, they move to the square container. “It’s the same size as our old contain”, they proclaim. And it was… for a while. Then the shave off a few ounces.
What will keep them from shaving off a few more? I have already seen the 48 ounce container, it’s coming to a freezer compartment near you, and you can be sure Unilever is already working on the artwork (and an excuse… “cost of production, but you can be assured… quality…” and a coupon is enclosed…
So you got three coupons, eh?
Myself, I think the way to go is through the state consumer protection office. There are fifty of them… Heck, I got nothing but time and a roll of stamps.
December 31st, 2006 at 10:15 pm
I just bought Breyer’s vanilla to go with an apple pie. I knew that something was wrong as soon as I put the first spoonful into my mouth. The ice cream tasted slippery, lacked any real vanilla taste, and didn’t feel cold enough. I walked back to the kitchen to look at the container and saw that the famous four ingredients had been changed. After a quick Google, I found this thread.
Does anyone know where in the Philadelphia market I could buy a decent vanilla ice cream?
January 2nd, 2007 at 6:30 am
Somebody started a breyerssucks.com website.
January 3rd, 2007 at 10:52 am
I feel betrayed that Breyers has adulterated its “all natural ice creams” by adding tara gum. Why can’t they make ice cream with the simple ingredients everyone is familiar with - the way they used to - and the way they had advertised?
I’m “sticking” with Turkey Hill Philadelphia Style from now on. At least they are still all natural.
January 8th, 2007 at 11:49 am
I am extremely disappointed that Breyer’s has been adding tara gum to its product. It seems as if there is a movement to keep any and all pure food and pure food ingredients from people who are not in the top 5% of the extremely wealth class. I will now make my own ice cream– that way it will be low fat like Breyers but no additives at all.
January 8th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
I hate the tara gum, too. I won’t buy Breyer’s again until/unless they get it out of there!
But I will happily tell you all a *fast* and *easy* way to make your own ice cream at home. Get a Donvier ice cream maker–I bought one at a thrift store last summer, and life has never been the same. It is a simple machine with a thick-walled canister that sits inside a plastic pot. The walls of the canister are filled with a super-cooled liquid, and you have to keep it in your freezer for at least five hours before making ice cream (ours just stays there all the time). You pour in your own truly all natural ingredients (I actually like to mix them in a blender first, and we’re talking milk, cream, sugar, vanilla) and turn the crank just a few times every so often. No ice. No salt. No noisy motor. No tiring hand-cranking. You have the best ice cream you ever tasted in about 20-30 minutes–probably faster than a round-trip to the store. It only makes about a quart at a time, but how much do you really need at one time?
This is what we usually do since I bought the machine, but I would occasionally pick up Breyer’s if it were on sale. For the fun, the memories, the vanilla bean flecks (that I could add to my own ice cream with a little extra effort). But never again, never again, never again! I’m not certain they’re still making the Donviers, but the last time I checked you could get them on E-bay for around $20. A great investment, and really fun to make with your kids! In fact, I usually put my 3-year-old in charge of the cranking because he gets bored and doesn’t overdo it–crank too vigilantly, you run the risk of turning your ice cream into butter.
Have fun and to hell with Unilever!
-Abigail
January 8th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
It is great to see that I’m not crazy and that other people feel the same. It is an outrage to sit back and watch the quality of life dwindel away to corporate greed. It’s all around us, but now they’re messing with our ice cream too. That’s going too far!
They are adding Tara Gum, cloned fish protein, whipped air, and shrinking the cartain to 1.7 quarts (less than 1/2 gallon)
Where does it stop? http://BreyersSucks.com
January 17th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Last night I bought a container of Breyer’s French Vanilla for the first time in a long time. I love ice cream, but don’t buy it frequently because I consider it a special treat. I’ve always considered Breyers French Vanilla to be one of the best. And I always thought it was testimony to the quality of the product that the only other ice cream I knew of that had a similiar taste & texture was Haagen-Dazs Vanilla. I considered it no coincidence that they had essentially the same ingredients: (Haagen-Dazs) Cream, Skim Milk, Sugar, Egg Yolks, Natural Vanilla (Breyers - old recipe) Milk, Cream, Sugar, Egg Yolks, Natural Flavor.
Well, last night I took a greatly-anticipated spoonful of the Breyers & let it melt in my mouth - but noticed something funny. It felt rubbery or something. No joke. It felt like one of those crap ice-creams. I took another spoonful. It wasn’t my imagination. The texture was way off. It struck me as very artificial & unpleasant. I pulled the container out of the freezer to look at the ingredients & was SO !!!DISSAPPOINTED!!! to find that there was a NEW, FOREIGN substance in my beloved ice-cream: TARA GUM! AAAAGHH!!! What is this crap?!
I found this website while searching online trying to figure out what had happened & I’m glad that other people have taken notice too. It validates my experience.
Oh well, Breyers… as long as you put the GUM in the ice-cream & make it all rubbery-mouth-feeling I’m gonna have to cough up the extra dough for a product I expect. It looks like I’ll need to buy the “premium” ice-cream in order to get what I want. See ya later, Breyers French Vanilla. Hello, Haagan-Dazs Vanilla.
A formerly satisfied ex-Breyers customer.
January 28th, 2007 at 12:31 am
I used to work for those jokers. They’re totally trying to screw you/us the custmers. It’s true, that Double Chruned stuff is just shit. But I know that Nestle’s has an all natural that is cream, sugar, and milk. Long live Nestles!
February 4th, 2007 at 6:15 am
Ugh! I’m so disappointed in Breyer’s. I don’t have anything against gums in my ice cream, and there are plenty of great brands that contain gums and stabilizers. Unfortunately, Breyer’s isn’t one of them. I didn’t stop buying it in protest - I stopped buying it because it’s gross. Practically inedible. There are actually a few great store brands in my area for half the price of Breyer’s, so I really wonder who’s still buying it. Oh well. It’s kind of good to know I’m not the only one who was disturbed by the recipe change - Misery loves company.
February 5th, 2007 at 2:29 am
The whole thing with tara gum is just one more nail in the coffin for Breyer’s as a brand. I had hoped to see this “experiment” to be dispensed with quickly, but I rather doubt that will happen before much additional damage is done to their reputation.
Frankly, I became disenchanted when they started tinkering with their basic marketing formula by adding all those “unnatural” flavor varieties with candies, and such. Next, I was slapped in the face when they altered the basic carton size from a half-gallon to 1.75 quarts. When they first did this they were EVEN bold enough to promote it with the phrase, “Now takes up less room” emblazoned right there in the freezer at the store! Of course it takes up less room; there is less product in the package. Did they think we were THAT stupid not to catch on? I guess they did not mind insulting our intelligence so brazenly.
Now that they have essentially destroyed the basic concept upon which Breyer’s was built and promoted over the years, I see no reason to consider their products for consumption. Unilever is sinking the ship and probably can’t or won’t attempt to save it. I just hope as many passengers as possible decide not to go down with it.
Sad, oh so sad…
February 9th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
I just bought some Breyers Butter Almond ice cream. I used to eat this frequently before I had to watch my diet.
Well, it did not taste the same, nor did it have the same melt in your mouth refreshing “feel.” Looked at the ingredients, saw the tara gum, got on the internet, and found this site.
There is an alternative which I have tried and it is very good. Turkey Hill All Natural line of ice cream. Just cream, milk, sugar, and flavor. (Their regular line of ice cream does contain thickeners, etc.)
Unilever is free to use whatever formula they like. I can’t fault them for that. I just won’t buy their product. However, I find their spin of a response quite annoying. As a result, I will try to avoid buying any Unilever products.
February 12th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
My mother-in-law was dying of cancer a few years ago and asked for us to get her foods that were “all natural”. She had a rapidly growing fatal cancer and she had done a good deal of research and she believed that many of the preservatives in our food are actually cancer causing or cancer encouraging ingredients. She explicity asked for Breyers ice cream. We changed our diet and now can no longer eat Breyers ice cream because they are no longer an all natural ice cream.
February 16th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
I have lived on Breyer’s Vanilla during my past pregnancies, but I am absolutely unwilling to eat this new slop for this new baby. I will check out Turkey Hill.
February 26th, 2007 at 2:48 am
I bought two cartons of my beloved Breyers, one Strawberry ( my favorite ) and French Vanilla. I scooped some up and I thought my mouth was broken thinking what’s wrong with this? It tasted gooey or chewy like the crappy ice cream I’d long left behind. I looked at the label and then I saw it. I didn’t know they added “Tara Gum” to their ice cream. Nasty! I’m very sorry I bought it. I’m not going to eat it. My garbage pickup it is Tuesday and the 2 cartons go with it. Sad, I’ve always crowed so much about the great taste of Breyers. They ruined it. One of the simple eating joys is gone. I’ll not buy it again. Jerry
February 27th, 2007 at 3:08 am
Behold it has happen to Häagen-Dazs as well.
I think this is an excellent opportunity for a little company to come into the market and take their loyal customers away.
I grew up wirh both Breyers and Häagen-Dazs but I will not pay premium for candle tasting ice cream - no way guys
March 6th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
BLAH TO TARA GUM!
NO MORE BREYERS!
THEY TOOK A GOOD ICE CREAM AND DESTROYED IT.
March 11th, 2007 at 5:23 am
I bought a “Donvier” ice cream maker on ebay and make my own now. And no tara gum.
March 20th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Well, I thought I was crazy. Thought my taste buds were finally giving out. Tara Gum - huh!
Well, they almost did me in with the 3/4 of 1/2 gallon containers. I wrote them and wished upon them that the next time they buy a gallon of gas, the pump spits out 3/4 of a gallon.
Well, I won’t be buying Bryer’s (and after 64 years of eating their ice cream) - I just don’t like the taste. I’ll be checking the containers for something without Tara Gum.
They can tell you what they want about temperature this and gritty that - but some CEO, looking at the bottom line, decided to turn the brand into grocery store ice cream. May God bless his soul.
March 25th, 2007 at 3:11 am
In two bites I knew breyers strawberry had been changed for the worse. It is so bad I won’t buy it. Gone is the crisp clean flavor and wonderful crumbly texture. Oh well, we had a good run for 15 years. Mad still yet I’ll not buy other Unilever products and will sell stocks.
March 25th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
I wrote a letter to Unilever about a year and a half ago describing my disappointment with their “new” product and I received the same canned response. I haven’t bought Breyers ice cream since and won’t ever buy it again unless they go back to all natural). It’s such a shame. I grew up with Breyers ice cream - my favorite was butter almond. But the new Breyers is a real imposter.
April 1st, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Too bad. I new immediately, the very first mouthful, that Breyers changed the recipe. I used to eat Breyers almost every day, it’s (was) a staple in our house. Just like so many other good things in this world, they’ve succeeded in ruining a time honored favorite of millions of people all for the sake of corporate greed. I doubt very much Unilever was getting many, if any, consumer complaints about Breyers Vanilla. They’re getting complaints now. Let’s see if they really listen to their customers and drop the tara gum from the ingredients. Until they do, I’m replacing them with Haagen Daz. But the old time Breyers will always be my fave. Too bad.
April 9th, 2007 at 10:47 am
We too have been long, long time Breyers lovers and consumers. Both my wife and I have cut way back on my ice cream consumption. We did figure our taste was “maturing” as some others have speculated. Looking back our consumption has decreased just since the addition of the tara gum. Interesting.
Thanks Unilever for helping us eat more healthy and reduce our weight and health problems as well.
Oh yeah, just in case you are wondering: Yes, we are looking for another brand of ice cream that had not mucked up their reciept. We do not like what you have done!
Mick and Sandy
April 13th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Went looking for information on tara gum after we read the label on the Breyers carton we just purchased. Have also written them an email. I commented about tara gum being indigestible, as mentioned here, and said that rocks and sand are also indigestible. I also told them that I considered these new additons as junk and do not want to feed my family junk.
We’ll see if I get the same form letter.
April 16th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
I recently purchased a box of Breyers all natural vanilla flavored ice cream and was surprised! You have added tara gum . It taste so slick and disgusting I decided to doctor it up with blackberry pie just to get it down. I will no longer purchase this ice cream .What a disappointment…………
April 16th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
I have been round and round with Bryers, insulting them at every turn - and still they print NATURAL TARA GUM on the cartons as if you could buy AFTIFICIAL TARA GUM. Well, I’m mad that they have changed not just one favorite flavor but ALL of them. Garbage (and a lot of other words I will not use).
Check out Haagen-Dazs - could be the only really natural ice cream left. No Tara Gum there.
April 17th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
I stopped buying Breyer’s and wait for sales on Haagen-Dazs. Hey Unilever! How about a Breyer’s Classic? I would pay extra for it as I find your current product inedible.
I boycott as many Unilever products as possible. There are many. I stopped buying Lipton Tea and Wishbone Dressing for a start.
Breyer’s hasn’t got a clue, but they serve up the “GOO”.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
I am so very disappointed. Breyer’s was “real” ice cream to me for so long, and now it’s the same foamy crap that all the others are.
And what’s with Unilever putting soy lecithin in Lipton tea? Why in the world does tea need this stuff? I sort of doubt that the Lipton tea of old had soy lecithin in it.
April 21st, 2007 at 12:19 pm
I can only add my name to the growing list here of those saddened and disheartened by the changes Unilever has made in what was once a pure and delicious American product. Breyers was the ONLY ice cream my family bought growing up, cause it simply tasted the BEST and had nothing bad for you in it. I continued the tradition with my own family…until the taste and quality were sullied by a list of uneeded and unwanted contaminants.
May I add that Breyers yogurt (which used to have about 4 ingredients, and taste out of this world!) has also gone the way of ‘Dutch improvement’ and is now full of tapioca startch whey protein, locust bean gum and pectin. It has the consistency of wallpaper paste, and tastes not a lot better. I’m just angered and frustrated that the great products I grew up buying and WANT to purchase for my family are no longer available from Breyers. Frankly, I think they just suck, and I won’t be purchasing anything under their label.
April 25th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Breyers All Natural used to be my favorite. The tara gum makes it taste as if someone added a cup of lard to the carton. The simple, intense flavors can no longer be found. It tastes like the icing on a cheap store bought birthday cake. I sent them a letter, and they responded with the same “form” letter that they send everyone else. I am changing to Turkey Hill All Natural ice cream, if I can still find it. In Central Virginia, the stores seemed to have stopped selling the All Natural Turkey Hill. I would make some all natural homemade ice cream if I could find a container of heavy whipping cream that does not contain polysorbate 60.
April 25th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
The last few times I have eaten Breyers French Vanilla my mouth starts to ache and pain about 20 minutes or so after eating it. I went to check the ingredients as I believed they had changed it and sure enough they had. I had searched for years and tried other ice creams before switching to this one a few years ago so my mouth wouldn’t ache. Now the search is on again for a different all natural ice cream with no additives.
May 1st, 2007 at 11:46 am
I noticed immetiately upon eating some this weekend and then checked the ingrediants. Breyers now tastes completely different with tara gum. I will not buy Breyers any more - it’s a shame, I really liked it. Very bad move on their part. I see no difference in buying a cheap store brand to Breyers now. Solution:
I will only be buying Turkey Hill’s All Natural Philly Style - it’s very good! Be sure you buy the black container - they have a regular, cheap line that is not good. Definitely try it if you haven’t before or ask your local store to carry it. Website is:
http://www.turkeyhill.com/products/all-natural-recipe.asp
Unilever has just increased their business!!
May 5th, 2007 at 10:53 am
I have always loved Bryers. I loved the way it melted leaving a running pool of creaminess and not a thick gloppy mess as did others. I, unlike so many others I found out today, liked the icey texture it had when it refroze. I loved knowing that it was natural; no corn syrup that I avoid, no, as they used to say, ingredients one couldn’t pronounce. Granted it may not have been the best for the ole arteries but it was so very worth it. Natural Chocolate Chip Mint was my all time favorite but giving up caffeine ruled it out but Peach and Vanilla were always there to comfort me. I’d not gotten any in a while and sat down with a bowl eager to be treated. HAH! So many times things are quite as we remembered them and I thought this was the case but then I happened to glance at the ingredients. I was sick! How could they do that to those of us who for years trusted Bryers, forsaking all other ice creams to know they were getting the very best ALL NATURAL ice cream. I shan’t be spending another dime on their product. Looks as if Reed’s Ginger Ice Cream will be my main treat, now.
May 7th, 2007 at 10:23 am
I use to eat up to 3 half gallons of Breyers a week. I loved it because it was ALL NATURAL. Not any more. The worst part is that this tara gum makes me phycially ill. I can’t eat ice cream any more. It was my one bad habit! Shame on the company for making these changes. Go back to all natural. Even though tara gum is a natural product, it doesn’t give ice cream a natural consistency flavor. It’s just like every other store bought product. Take it or leave it!!
May 8th, 2007 at 5:33 am
Wow! We’ve been trying to lose weight, & before that we were in Iraq, so we haven’t had any Breyer’s lately. I guess we won’t now.
I used to love the way Breyer’s melted differently from other ice creams - to me that was an indicator of the lack of junk in the ice cream. So much for that!
May 9th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Breyer’s Ice Cream has just jumped the shark. My household normally ingests hundreds of dollars of Breyer’s per year. The additive will end that habit. I have been a fan of Breyer’s since the early 1980’s and they just lost one of their best customers. Tara Gum is not naturally found in ice cream–it is a potential alergen and I plan to start a class action suit to get them to cease calling any ice cream with gum an “All Natural” product
May 10th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
I agree: we are all disappointed. Now, let’s discuss the rip-off. In Canada at least, the price of the product has remained as high as before. It is much more expensive than other similar frozen products. The company has been careful not to change the label in a clear manner that consumers would recognize instantly. So consumers think they get the usual “all natural” ice cream, pay the extra money for quality, and get the same shit as if they had bought the other, much cheaper products. Seems that this company is going for a quick $ run and will abandon the product once every consumer has become aware of the fraud. Any lawyers on this on behalf of consumers?
May 10th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
I’ve had the same experience as many of you. I wrote to them earlier this year to complain about the tara gum, got the same form letter, and got a coupon for a free Unilever food product (which of course I haven’t used).
This morning, a Unilever representative called me! He said I’d been randomly selected for a “discussion” with the customer service department. He basically read me the same form letter they sent all of us already and tried to defend the use of tara gum. His scripted statements were that-
-tara gum is natural
-due to shipping across the country, they needed a stabilizer (and they didn’t need one a year ago?)
-60% of Americans prefer the “creamy” (you mean gooey and frothy) consistency
-they are trying to compete with Edy’s (so they think the way to do this is to become like Edy’s?
)
He said he’d hate to lose me as a customer. I said that I will not purchsase gummed ice cream, nor would many others I’ve heard from online. Then he tried to find out the name of this website, probably so Unilever could try to shut it down!
Anyway, no hope for improvement in the short term. He sounded very certain that the gum was here to stay.
May 13th, 2007 at 9:56 am
Another piece of our country gone. Yeah we’ll just add some gum as filler. We’ll tell the stupid Americans that it’s an improvement. Then we’ll rake in the profits. I’m so sick of seeing all the good stuff from my childhood ruined by corporate greed. The only way we can stop it is to stop buying the crap. That’s where we have the power to stop this. I sent Breyers (I mean Unilever) a letter and didn’t even get a reply. So fine now all I buy is Haagen Dazs.
May 13th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
In the 1970’s, there was a virtual revolution as consumers worked hard to band together and FORCE food manufacturers to print the ingredients on the packages. Stop and think. Why would consumers have to FORCE food manufacturers to do that ? It is encouraging to see that people are actually reading these labels before buying, decades later.
Yes, I remember the commercial where the little boy is trying to pronounce the ingredients on ice cream that was a competitor of Breyer’s.
Unilever has UNILEVELED Breyer’s to the same chemical glop that others have been selling for years. WHY ? Because genuine ingredients are more expensive. So, to make more money, they feed you chemical glop that tastes like chemical glop. Unilevel doesn’t care about you or about destroying an established and respected brand name, they care about PROFIT. Face it.
But Breyer’s may have created a new problem with “product†stability. WE ARE GOING TO BE STANDING IN THE STORE, HOLDING IT IN OUR HANDS, AND READING THE LABEL. IF IT’S CRAP, WE’LL THROW IT BACK INTO THE FREEZER. WARMER THAN BEFORE.:
I bought some Breyer’s and wondered what was wrong with it. After being stored in the freezer for a short time, it grows this scum of insoluble chocolate-colored goo on its surface. It never did that before. Hmmm. Must be that NATURAL tara gum. By the way, hemlock (the poisonous weed, not the tree) is also “natural”. So everything “natural” is not necessarily good for you. So, you are being fed FILLERS and EXTENDERS instead of expensive original natural ingredients. So Unilevel - a SOAP company - can make more money by selling you chemical glop instead of ice cream.
So, we can see where this is going. Next, they will add more “natural” fillers and extenders and cheapeners for even more profit. Let’s see - feldspar rock is natural. And it is cheap. So, they’ll powder up some feldspar and throw it into Breyer’s ALL NATURAL. What can we call powdered feldspar rock filler to fool consumers and still include it on the ingredients label on the ice cream ? “Calcium silico-aluminate”
How about some nice seaweed ? “Carrageenan”. How about some nice tree seed grindings that are also used in oil well drilling mud ? “tara”. Is a small minority of consumers troubled by a few little sugar or ice crystals in your ice cream ? Well, we’ll dump in a little polysorbate-80 for you. That’ll make it all better.
WANT NATURAL ICE CREAM ? You have one alternative left. Look up the recipe on the Web and make it yourself. There are LOTS of recipes on the web. When you do, be sure to read the ingredients on the cream bottle ! They are putting seaweed in your cream, aren’t they ? Vanilla ? Watch out for ethyl vanillin – especially the stuff from Mexico. (But it’s cheaper.) So, far, they have not figured out a way to screw up eggs. Yet.
What next ? They will make it out of white clay and import it from China. Never melts.
May 13th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Interesting concept here. Take some Breyers, put it in your cart and take it for a walk around the store, and then “change your mind”. Leave it somewhere in the store, if you’re nice, leave it in a refrigerator(not freezer).
Guerrilla shopping. OH, just kidding, I wouldn’t do that, and don’t you either! Really, it’s a joke.
That part about the cream? I learned that myself. Thought I would make my own ice cream and discovered on the way home that almost all “cream” sold in the store has the same crap in it that I bought it to avoid in ice cream. Even “Horizon”, “Organic” Cream.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
I was wondering if something was wrong with my taste buds, when I decided just for the heck of it to read the Breyers Vanilla ingredients. Ok ok ok…what???? That explained it. I also seem to recall that in the Olden Days there were no “natural flavors” that were unspecified, and I have suspicions about the vanilla content as well as disappointment in the gummed texture. I guess we’ll have to frequent the local gelato shop instead of buying Breyers at our corner store, which has always gone to the trouble of carrying it instead of the cheap stuff, just because we asked. They don’t have to bother any more.
May 16th, 2007 at 9:34 am
The “corporate greed” side of this is interesting. Generally, the managers who make decisions like adding “tara gum” have MBAs and don’t know the first thing about ice cream. They probably don’t even LIKE ice cream. The surveys that they claim are saying 60% of us like gummed ice cream had a 5% response rate and the questions were prejudiced.
These MBAs are generally people who have never been on a farm; never seen a Jersey cow or the wonderful food she produces for us in its unadulterated, natural state. From a genetic point of view, our bodies have had several thousand years to get used to milk, and only a few years to get used to chemical concoctions.
The MBAs think milk comes from a milk-factory …. In one side goes water, powdered limestone, carrageenan, polysorbate-60, propylene glycol, partially-hydrogenated cottonseed oil, potassium phosphate, mono and di-glycerides, sodium stearyl lactate, high-fructose corn syrum AND out the other side comes milk-looking white liquid. You can use it make Dove, Lifebuoy, hand lotion, floor wax, house paint, shoe polish - and even ice cream.
Do you want to make your own “creamy vanilla” ice cream ? Just go to the store and buy a bottle of high-fructose corn syrup (KARO brand), pour some on your ice cream, and stir. MMM-mm.
READ THE LABELS.
Anyway, it would be interesting to see what Uni-leave-it did to the health care plan, pension plan, and vacation time of the former Breyer’s employees. If they stomped a respected, high-quality outstanding brand name like Breyer’s down to commonality for the sake of arbitrarily increased profits and executive incentive plans, they probably did the same thing to their employees. Are there any former Breyer’s employees out there ? Jump in ! Tell us what happened.
Clark W. Griswold
Food Chemist
1060 West Addison
Chicago, Illinois 60613.
May 17th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
Hey!! I am so delighted!!
I just bought some Breyer’s ‘all natural’ ice cream without crap in it at the Choices grocery store on W 16th Ave in Vancouver BC!! No gumminess! No goober! No “double churned” sticky gummy gnarliness!
I moved to Canada in 2002, and shortly afterward, ONLY the crappo “double churned” stuff (their code phrase for guar gum and carageenan) was available here. I actually wrote to Breyer’s and told them I was no longer buying their product for this reason. They responded with a letter saying that Canadians prefer a creamier ice cream texture.
Anyway, it looks like they are selling the real stuff here and there in Canada again. Hoooray!
May 18th, 2007 at 1:55 am
I should add to the above that
(1) I just ate about 1 1/2 cups’ worth in one sitting - it’s been two or three years since I have eaten any ice cream but occasional Haagen Dazs, so why not?
(2) I can find no evidence of this ice cream on the web. It’s called “Breyers Naturals”, and I got a 946 ML containier, maple walnut (In case anyone thinks I’m hallucinating…)
May 28th, 2007 at 2:14 am
I’m writing from New York City, on a hot Memorial Day weekend. I just had a craving for ice cream and went to the local supermarket.
Since at age 39 I was recently told I had slightly high cholesterol (211), I read lables. I had read carrageenan caused cancer in lab rats and that the jsry was still out on it. Most of the brands of ice cream (including Hagen Daz!!! and other expensive brands) had this ingredient, among a bunch of others that either I hadn’t heard and/or sounded suspicious. So I didn’t buy them.
What I did buy was Breyers. It said it was “all natural,” it had a “pledge” on the side of the container, and it only had five ingredients, four simple one that I had heard of, mil, sugar, etc. Also, the cholesterol and fat content seemed lower than the other brands. So I bought two pints. But I didn’t trust it. How could it be only $1.99 a pint if it was the most natural. The others were $4 and $5 per pint? It didn’t make sense. So I did a little search and found this site.
Thanks to everybody for you input. That fifth ingredient was the tara gum, which I hadn’t heard of. I feel like Breyers totally suckered me and lied to me. My instincts, sadly, were right. It was too good to be true. What a joke. Capitalism has evolved into this: deceive the public, hide behind language, profit at all costs.
I wasn’t the biggest ice-cream eater in the past and don’t have the attachment to Breyers like some of the people on this thread. But I’ll never buy it again. I just dumped both pints in the sink and turned on the hot water tap.
May 28th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
too bad never gonna buy it.
June 2nd, 2007 at 9:58 pm
This reminds me of the time I was “dying” for 7UP
on a really scorching hot summer day. I bought one and could hardly wait to taste that refreshing flavor I remembered as a kid. Ptewie
yuk, ick, I couldn’t spit it out fast enough. Checked out the ingredients and there was something called Calcium Disodium EDTA; what the
…. is that? Now, I’ve noticed it’s not listed on the cans, but I swear I can still taste it.
There has to be a mass protest to Breyers to get them to remove the tara gum that I just discovered was in the natural vanilla yesterday. It definitely has a different texture and taste; what else can we do except boycott Breyers and make our own homemade ice cream.
June 5th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
I was just doing a search on the web to see if I was the only one who was upset that Unilever has changed the ingredients in Breyer’s Ice Cream. I don’t eat ice cream very often, but when I do, it’s Breyer’s. I bought a “1/2 gallon” so I thought, of Butter Pecan about a month ago. I couldn’t wait to get home because I wanted that rich Butter Pecan taste. I got home, and I looked at the ice cream first. I noticed it looked foamy. I thought maybe I took too long to get home, but I wasn’t out very long.
I normally try to eat a little at a time to control my portions, but always end up going back 2 and 3 times for more. I put some in a small dessert dish, and the first taste was
eeeewwhh!@#%!!! What the heck is wrong with this ice cream? I thought it may have been spoiled, but it was fresh dated. I tasted it again and it was still horrible. The Butter Pecan usually has this buttery rich flavor. The texture was too creamy and foamy. Of course by this time, I think I’m crazy, but then something tells me to look at the ingredients on the box. Sure enough, I spotted the problem. I said to myself ” Who told them to add this Tara Gum crap? No butter or very minimal, pecans were sparse, there used to be alot of nice size pecans too. I thought about taking it back to the retailer, but it wasn’t their fault. The next time I went to the supermarket, I decided to check the other flavors like “Natural Vanilla” - NOT! Vanilla was my favorite, and I thought their vanilla ice cream was even better than Hagen-Daz. Hagen Daz is very good, but too rich sometimes. Cherry Vanilla, same thing, all of the ice creams have the added stabilizers.
I enjoyed those fine ingredients such as butter, vanilla beans, bing cherries, peaches, etc. I noticed it wasn’t as sweet either. Just tasteless. I told my husband, I’m not eating that crap.
I did a search on the web for Breyer’s,
(the company). Of course I couldn’t find it immediately. It took some research to find out that the company was sold to Unilever.
I searched the Unilever site until I was able to locate a telephone number for customer service. I spoke to a lady who is obviously about
“The Company”. She gave me the standard answers she was trained to give about the product and why they changed it. She fed me the crap about the stabilizers, and how most people complained about the icy texture, the melting. I told her that’s what I loved about it. I was thinking to myself, she’s full of crap because Breyer’s has been making ice cream for many years, and was successful for many years because they were the best, so I don’t believe this %$@** she’s handing me. I’m far from stupid. This company is lying. Nobody was complaing. She even tried to convince me the ice cream is the same! Okay, I just got off the turnip truck yesterday.
This is a corporate decision and of course everything comes down to $$$$. Unilever is trying to maximize profits, and minimize costs. It’s going to really cost them in the long run. What they don’t realize is that their profits will go down because people don’t want this crap. Yes, good ingredients are more expensive, but you are still profiting because people were willing to pay for a superior product.I told her I would not buy Breyer’s anymore. She told me she was sorry that I felt that way. I told her it wasn’t broke and they should have never tried to fix it. She offered me coupons for more ice cream. I said this moron has got to be crazy. I just told you I don’t like this ice cream, why would I want coupons for more? Duh? I wouldn’t want it for a free lifetime supply! I told her I wanted my money back. I don’t like paying for something, and not getting what I paid for. She agreed to send me a refund. I received a refund the next week in the amount of $4.00. You get what you negotiate. I never felt so passionate about writing about a product. I usually just suck it up as a loss, but I said, NOT THIS TIME. I’ve been eating this ice cream all my life, introduced to me as a child by my grandparents. I am in my 40’s now, so I know what it’s supposed to taste like.
Yes, I believe if enough people protest this mess they offer to us as “All Natural”, they will feel it where it hurts. Profits. I am going to write to John Stossel of ABC News and ask him to feature this on “Give Me A Break”.
I normally trust Consumer Reports, but they either got it wrong this time, or someone paid them for these so-called consumer tests. Enough of this fake stuff.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:37 pm
My beef in Canada is that Breyers is just like all the other crappy ice creams here now. It’s been called ice “cream” becasue it had cream in not bloody modified milk ingredients. If I wanted to buy ice modified milk I would but as far as I know it’s still called ice cream and now you cany hardly find any brand of ice cream that actually has the cream part.
I think the ice cream problem is a sad reflection of our phony society. Breyers you had a good thing and blew it - do you really make that much more money now? Maybe it’s our own faults if most people can’t taste or read a label I suppose. Well got to go eat some chemical cream, ciao.
June 27th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
It’s too bad. Bryers has sold out. Like Ben and Jerry’s before them–adding corn syrup to their perfectly ice cream.
June 29th, 2007 at 1:37 am
greed made them do it and now they lose all this business…..hmmmmm….no more Breyers for me
July 1st, 2007 at 2:33 am
Has anyone experienced an allegic reation to tara gum? I hadnt had Breyers in a while until earlier tonight. Had way too much(bowl & half) of choc chip mint(my favorite in any brand)..even tho it did seem different than before -thicker/fluffier. Later started breaking out in hives. Did some research on internet - since I itch too much to sleep (its after 2 am) Most sites don’t mention tara gum as causing allergic reactions, but one ( TryOrganics.com ) says ‘powdered form may cause allergies’. Does anyone know if Breyers uses the ‘powdered form’? Or has anyone heard of bad reactions to tara gum? I can’t think of anything else that I ate or was exposed to tonight that might have caused this. I doubt that I’ll take another chance on Breyers or any other ice cream or food with tara gum.
July 6th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
I too am very disappointed at Breyer’s decision to gum up a good product. And their answer to inquiries is equally gummy.
The product is no longer worth the premium price as it is no better than any of the other mass produced gummed up synthetic semi-dairy confections.
Too bad.
July 7th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
I don’t like sweets too much, but when a sweet attack occurs, I’ve always reached for Breyer’s All Natural Ice Cream Chocolate or Vanilla because I thought the company used only natural ingredients. It didn’t take long for me to run back to the carton to double check the ingredients after my first big spoonful. Natural tara gum?! What a nightmare! Are there any other all natural ice creams? I’m done with Breyers.
July 10th, 2007 at 10:52 am
“Natural” Flavors is NOT what you think!
Anyone who has read books like Fast Food Nation or The Gospel of Food knows that there is no real difference between artificial flavors and natural flavors, they are both concoctions made up in a lab!
When Breyer’s stopping putting in Vanilla Beans, and instead say “Natural” Flavors, it means they are putting in fermented wombat mixed with dried asparagus juice and essence of strawberry seeds (or whatever cheap “natural” ingredient they need to simulate part of the real flavor they don’t want to pay for).
The word “NATURAL” on a food label does not mean wholesome!
I’m sicked by the loss of my childhood favorite, Breyer’s Cherry Vanilla. It’s not just the stabilizers (Tara gum) that ruined it, the flavor is now completely fake/wrong.
Haagen Daaz is nice ice cream, but NOT a substitute for Breyer’s. The Haagen Daaz vanilla has a powerful vanilla extract taste with overtones of egg yolks. It doesn’t have that clean refreshing vanilla ice cream flavor. The closest alternative I’ve found is Mcconnels Vanilla Bean, it denser with a higher butterfat content (heavy to eat), but it does have that clean mouth feel I miss.
http://www.mcconnells.com/
July 12th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Well guys…I have you beat…not only have they screwed up the ice cream the “REAL” ice cream…but does it not bother anyone that the commercials are showing an ice cream freezer with a big stiff penis sticking out while an obviously married woman is in bed licking “cream” from her spoon…I find this highly distastful…I think the company behind what used to be a great ice cream with cute kids saying “only milk and cream” has gone to the trash pile with all of the others preserved pervert corporate ad people…I’m a female professional business woman 65 years old that is soooo sad…..
July 14th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
It’s over, Breyers’ is crap now. I won’t pay Whole Foods prices and If I can’t find “real” ice cream I’ll make my own…
July 16th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
You all are right of course, But it still seems that Breyers is the best besides homemade
July 16th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
The addition of tara gum to Breyer’s is just another example of corporate greed destroying one of our national treasures. I immediately noticed the difference in texture when I had some strawberry the other day. I complained to Unilever and they answered me claiming that they had improved the product! It seems they were having problems with ice crystals. Tara gum is their solution. Mine is don’t expect a shelf life of a year or more and make sure the product is not melted and refrozen.
Their rationale does not matter to me. I will not buy the product any more. I have been eating Breyer’s for over 60 years. This is a very big disappointment. A jackass’ behind is “all natural”. That does not mean that I want it in my hamburger!
July 17th, 2007 at 11:19 am
Darren (july 16), who is your employer? How much are you paid for this enlighted ad about Breyer’s shitty products?
July 17th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Employer… U.S Secret Service and you ????
July 19th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
I tried to send the following to Unilever, but the site apparently couldn’t process my comment. So I post it here instead, hoping that they’ll read it:
“I am disgusted by the addition of tara-gum to Breyers ice cream. I grew up loving Breyers; I was a loyal consumer who would purchase no other ice cream, because of Breyers’s taste and Breyers’s quality. I find the new tara gum consistency unpleasant. I find the idea of adding a preservative unpleasant. I will not purchase your ice cream in the future unless you begin to market a version that uses the original recipe with the ingredients that I grew up with. I would pay more for such a product.
My father and mother ate Breyers, as did I, as did my wife and her family. I wonder that your shareholders could support your alienation of a legacy of loyal customers.
Please do not send me either a coupon for ice cream or your stock response concerning consumer demands and ‘temperature abuse.’ I am not interested in either, until and unless you restore Breyers to what it was.”
This is the only public web forum on which I’ve ever posted, and I suppose that’s an indicator of how seriously I and my family took Breyers. But with places like Whole Foods proving that people will pay higher prices for (putatively) healthier food, maybe we dare hope that Unilever might start marketing a breyers premium? I’d pay for it. I’m not proud of it, but I’d do it.
July 23rd, 2007 at 9:42 pm
My position is pretty much the same as many of the other posts here. I loved Breyers and now I absolutely hate it. I used to consider it up there with Haagen Daz etc - not as rich but lighter and simpler in a good way. Now, the new Double Churned monstrosity is actually worse than many of the cheap brands that fill the shelves. I also wrote to Unilever to ask “what gives?” and got the following response:
“Dear :
We are sorry to hear that you are concerned about the changes made to the
Breyers® brand product.
The new Breyers Naturally Flavoured Ice Cream does taste different. A new
process called double churning
imparts a much creamier texture than what you experienced with our Breyers All
Natural Ice Cream. We
decided to adopt this new technology after conducting consumer research last
year that showed the majority of
Canadians prefer a creamier textured ice cream. In order to use the double
churning process, however, we must
use ingredients that cannot be labelled natural. In addition, the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency has
increasingly been following a stricter definition of the word “natural”, such
that even our municipal water is not
considered natural as it must be treated for our safety. Water is an integral
part of the process used to
manufacture ice cream, hence our inability to use the words “all natural”.
Please be assured that we are continuing to use the highest quality ingredients
and natural flavours in our Breyers
Naturally Flavoured Ice Creams. We also think you will be pleased to know that
the double churning process
we are now using keeps our ice cream creamier and much less sensitive to the
changes in temperature that can
occur between the time the ice cream leaves our plant and is placed in your
freezer.
We appreciate your taking the time to share your comments with us and hope you
will use the enclosure towards
another purchase, with our compliments.
Yours sincerely,
Consumer Response Manager”
I love the disingenuous double speak the marketers use. Some one please find a person who likes the new garbage better. Otherwise just call it what it is.. cheapening the produce to increase short term profits at the expense of a long term customer base.
July 27th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
I got a 6 dollar check when I complained but I was thinking about writing back to them and saying that 6 dollars was not enough and that I want 6 dollars per half gallon of their so-called “all natural” crap that I have purchased over time, thinking and hoping that somehow I just kept getting bad batches or something was wrong with my taste buds until I finally looked at the label and read that their ice cream (if you want to call it that) no longer has the same ingredients and I want my money back for all the “junk” I have consumed without knowing it.
August 18th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
As a result of being on a strict diet for the better part of the last year and a half, I’ve had to cut out some of the things that I love to eat. Ice cream being one of them.
A few days ago I decided to splurge and reward myself for losing 100lbs. I grabbed a half gallon of my all time favorite Bryers ice cream; French Vanilla. As soon as I got home I grabbed a few dollops in a bowl and sat down to watch a movie that I got on the way home. The very first bite told me that something had changed, so I got up and went to the freezer and grabbed the container and had a look at the ingredients. I was shocked to see “natural tara gum” as the last ingredient in the list.
Breyer’s has been a staple in my family for many years, and I have come to expect the perfect ice cream experience when eating Bryer’s. That is now a lost cause.
In disgust I returned the remainder of the container to the supermarket and got my money back. I got me a pint of Haagen daas(read the label on it before I left the market to be sure of the ingredients) and went home. I’ll not be buying anymore Bryer’s products in the near future as long as they see fit to ruin what was arguably the best ice cream that one could buy at retail.
For shame Unilever. You lose.
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:57 pm
In the inimitible words of Bugs Bunny: “This means war!”
1. Call and demand a refund for the number of cartons you have in your freezer that you will be unable to eat @ $6.00 per. 920-499-5151, 9-5, EST, M-F. (Personally, I am owed $36.)
2. Get a waterproof container and mail the stuff back to them — as we all know, it won’t melt that much. Address:
Good Humor/Breyers Ice Cream
P.O. Box 19004
Green Bay, WI 54307-9007
Attn: Customer Reponse
OR
Vice President in Charge of Marketing
3. Both
August 28th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Breyers, YOU DISGUST US!
August 30th, 2007 at 7:05 am
You should say, “Unilever, you disgust us”. The only thing Breyers is the name. Unilever bought the name and then proceeded to bastardize it. They only make money, they obviously take zero pride in product.
August 30th, 2007 at 7:17 am
And nobody ever went broke underestimating(literally)the taste of the American public. Every poster here must have a discriminating palette, because Breyers/Unilever must have enough customers without our business.
August 30th, 2007 at 7:42 am
Youtube video dragging Breyers/Unilever through the dirt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVsF0llkEyg
September 10th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
I also was born in Philadelphia, when Breyers was always the best.
This is what I wrote to Unilever five weeks ago. No reply so far, but I didn’t ask.
—————————–
Dear Customers Relations,
I have used Breyers Ice Cream for 60 years. Even “Organic†is not nearly as good or as healthy as it used to be. This is a comparison I made for many years with other brands.
I understand the reason for most ingredients is to lower the cost. This is unacceptable! I prefer mostly pure cream, more organic flavors, and much less sugar. This would be like Breyers began, exactly what it should be. I would buy it at three to four times the price. The cheaper it is, the further I stay away from it.
I understand most people want things cheap. They don’t realize cheaper things will make them sick and the total cost is much higher.
Had I not learned this, I would have continued poor health as a child, probably dead long ago. And from an injury two years ago - broken head and other bones, unconscious (coma) seven weeks - I would surely have died as most people expected, instead of back to excellent health and strength.
Attached is a summary of my experience.
(The attachment, a comparison with different brands, is in Table format which I cannot paste here correctly, but I will send to anyone who asks me at: marvinlzinn@mindspring.com)
September 11th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
I love ice cream and have been eating Breyers vanilla for many many years. Usually I consume about 2 and 1/2cups a day. Recently I had to see a doctor because of a health problem which bothered me for over one and a half months. She did not help. I was getting worried so I went to another doctor who told me to stop eating that ice cream. If anyone else eats Breyers All Natural(now with Tara gum), and has a health problem, please contact me at DustyFellow@aol.com Thank you, Sue
September 11th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
I live in Delaware, and we buy Breyer’s black label all the time. Tonight I made a sundae with the vanilla and noticed that something was off. Then I saw the tara gum.
Technically, tara gum is a “natural” product, the same as guar gum, carrageenan, and other viscosity and air content modifiers derived from natural sources. Although this reformulation melts more evenly in my mouth, tricking my tongue into thinking it is creamier, I consider this a change for the worse.
Too bad. This just pushes us to use our Cuisinart ice cream maker more often.
September 13th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Just because tara gum and a lot of the other so called natural ingreds. in our food, that is OKed by the FDA, does not mean that it is good for humans to eat. I worked in a lab that was feeding carrageenan to rats and mice, and I got to see what happened to them. They put on wt. and got tumors. At very low doses it may be safe, but consuming a lot along with all the other is not good. The FDA allows for these things to be put into the food(sometimes because it’s about money), and then a year or later they take it off the shelf because it has harmed the health of someone or others. Just because it’s natural to the plan, tree or whatever, does not mean it is natural or good for our bodies. Read my comment above(Sue & Bec on 8-11-07).
September 27th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
I am so happy that I have found a page where people agree with me about the “New Breyer’s Double Churned†ice cream. I’m not sure if the introduction of “Tara Gum†happened when they began producing the new double churned ice cream but I though I would respond to this forum all the same. I use to bring a carton of the “All Natural†home on a weekly basis up until they introduced the “Double Churned†ice cream. The taste difference was immediate as was the texture. My wife commented that it tasted like they had added marshmallows to it or something. I wrote an email to Breyers on their website and commented on the change and asked if they would be continuing the original ice cream line. They replied with an extremely rude email in which they basically told me to go f%@& myself (I wish I still had that email) and followed up by mailing me some coupons. They mentioned that since the change sales have been soaring which I find very hard to believe. Before the change I use to go to the store and you would be lucky to find a carton of the “All Natural Vanillaâ€. Since they’ve introduced the double churn I’ve noticed that the store shelves are all ways completely full. Does anyone here know how this change has actually affected their sales?
October 3rd, 2007 at 8:31 am
hey i like edy’s dibs betta
October 18th, 2007 at 10:05 am
I grew up on Breyers ice cream. It was the only ice cream I would eat. I did not like the other brands because they tasted thick and less cold. I noticed that Breyers was a fast melting ice cream, while Dryers/Edys was a slower melting ice cream, which was quite suspicious, after all, ice cream should melt and drip, not stay firm. I chalked that up to all the unnatural additives used by Dryers/Edys. Breyers was the only ice cream that I noticed would melt like ice melting.
Whenever I would buy ice cream, I would always get Breyers Natural Vanilla (made with vanilla bean). My total favorite. A while ago, I noticed that I was not in love with this ice cream anymore and thought my tastes had changed. My boyfriend bought some ice cream last week and as he was eating said that it just didn’t taste right. I looked at the carton and sure enough, the ingredients were different. Tara gum was there. The consistency of the ice cream and the taste are more like the dreaded Dreyers/Edys. Yuk. No more Breyers ice cream for us.
October 18th, 2007 at 10:54 am
ARE YOU CRAZY? Just like so many other food products Breyers has changed the ingredients of their all natural vanilla ice cream. STUPID!!! Remember what happened when Coke changed their formula. Time to start calling it Breyers not so all natural vanilla ice cream. Hell it dosen’t even taste like vanilla any more. My girl friend recently purchased a Wolfgang Puck ice cream machine and now I make ice cream that tastes exactly what Breyers use to taste like. I suggest you do the same. Please excuse my spelling if there are any errors. Spelling was never my strong subject, but math was and I’ve done the math. Breyers, you are about to lose alot of money.
October 21st, 2007 at 8:15 pm
What about the ingredient, “natural flavor* which I found out could be anything, but is usually MSG. This is enough for me to stop all purchasing. And the president just signed a bill that allows foods to leave out ingredient that we the customers consider vital. Also my butter pecan has coconut oil in it. My great grandfather said that anyone who would eat coconut would eat shit. He died at age 89 about 55 years ago. He was born 144 years ago, and he knew. What about the natural ingredients hiding msg and the coconut oil.
October 24th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Wow, I searched the web for “Breyer’s ice cream gum”. Looks like everyone else noticed it too! This is tantamount to the “new Coke” fiasco in my opinion. No Breyer’s loyalist would have “expressed concern over consistency”, thus justifying the addition of any gum. It’s purely a device to better hold the product during shipment and make it easier to distribute to more markets. Too bad, might as well buy the cheaper stuff.
October 27th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Recently, I have suffered from a severe rash that I finally traced to my mouthwashes (both contained sucralose, the generic name for Splenda, to which many, many people are highly allergic). Every day, I would dose myself with poison, not understanding why my rash would wax and wane. In trying to find a toothpaste or mouthwash without any artificial sweetener, I had to rely on Tom’s of Maine–the only products I could find with no artificial sweeteners without driving fifty miles to a health food store. In trying to find medication (antihistamines) to treat my rash, I had to search high and low for allergy products that don’t contain artificial sweeteners (ironic, isn’t it?). Even my prescription medication has mannitol, another artificial sweetener. Breyer’s was the one thing that I could buy with confidence, knowing that those little milky pools of melted ice cream contained nothing but truly natural products. Now, the melted “ice product” (I refuse to call it ice cream) looks like run-off from a polluted stream or river–foamy, coagulated, and disgusting. Until recently, my boyfriend would go through several “half gallons” (ha) of Breyer’s chocolate and half-chocolate/half-vanilla every week. No longer. We both refuse to buy a product that does not live up to its predecessor or the brand name it carries–the same reason I don’t buy many other products to which I had been loyal for many, many years. Who decides that consumers want food that is fluffier, sickeningly sweet, unnaturally creamy, and that could withstand a nuclear attack and still remain in its original form? I grieve that many young people today will never know what real ice cream (or tomatoes, or fresh fruit, or fresh baked goods) should taste like.
I can bake my own cookies with quality ingredients, I can brush my teeth with soda and peroxide like people did years ago if necessary, and I can sure as hell churn my own ice cream until some company decides to produce a quality product. Bah, Breyers! You sold out to the enemy.
October 28th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
So I work at an Exxon convenience store and I was looking for a frozen treat a few moments ago. In the ice cream freezer I spotted a pint of Breyers “All Natural” “Natural Vanilla” (they really like to stress that redundancy I guess). Either way I have memories of eating Breyers — a very smooth, very creamy ice cream — great quality for what you pay. I opened the pint and proceeded to eat it and was immediately disgusted.
It is totally unlike what it used to be. In place of smooth and creamy is now “tough and chewy” if there can be such a thing for ice cream. It has a kind of watery taste.
Now even though I have not eaten the ice cream in years I knew something immediately was amiss. First, I checked the expiration date — it’s good. Second, the ingredients — “natural” (there they go again) Tara Gum? What’s that? In disarray, I immediately open my laptop and do a Google search. A little while later, I am here and posting my disgust along with the other unhappy consumers.
This is not the ice cream I remembered.
October 28th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Great post! I’ll probably blog something similar later. Premium Whey Protein Powder
October 29th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
I just ingested a spoonful of Breyer’s vanilla seemingly “all natural” ice cream only to find it flavorless and slimy. To make sure it wasn’t a fluke I tasted a second spoonful. Like others, I thought it was old and thought something was wrong with it. So I looked at the ingredients to find that illustrious “tara gum” ingredient. Never had I heard of such an ingredient. A quick search via Google got me answers. Lo and behold, all these comments prove me right. Because I have little children I try to refrain from food additives, preservatives and food coloring. In the past I have made my own ice cream a la Cuisinart, cream, sugar, etc. This purchase was one of convenience because I wanted to make milk shakes for the girls. Guess we will have to go back to making our own.
October 31st, 2007 at 7:33 pm
What the hell is ‘natural’ about adding gum to ice cream??? And what’s this BS about adding gum to make it more palatable to the consumer? Nonsense. It was added to cut cost to Breyers. I wrote to the company, but didn’t get the courtesy of a reply.
Not buying it again!
November 4th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
I am SICK over this! I rarely eat ice cream, because of allergies, but when I do, I want the real thing. I baked a fresh picked apple pie and bought the “best” natural vanilla ice cream around, right? Breyers of course, right? I had one taste and looked at the ingredients. This is the worst change they could have made. I won’t buy it again unless they remove the gum.
November 5th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Agree with all of the above. I received two coupons ($6 each) which I have not used for obvious reasons. But I threw away the cover letter from Unilever. Now I have their address so that I can return them with my reasons I will no longer buy Breyers. Am sure they will not change a thing in their recipe and moreover be happy that the coupons were not redeemed. Their desire for profits outweigh their customer satisfaction.
November 5th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
i recently dropped a bad habit, and decided to replace it with ice cream. I was horrified to find the tara gum listed on the ingredients. The very idea that the ice cream tasted weird enough to double check the ingredients should disturb unilever. Turkey Hill makes fine chocolate, vanilla and coffee ice creams– just be sure to select their “all natural” ice creams in the black cartons.
November 8th, 2007 at 12:48 am
I have written Unilever about Breyers and how they had taken a quality product from Philly and made it crappy. It is no longer as sweet and vanilla beanie but just like any cheap ice cream on the market with artificial flavor. Unilever when you write them they give you the same spiel about the tara gum and then send you a free coupon for Klondike bars. When the stock starts dropping and the stockholders start complaining maybe Unilever will start to do something. All of my family here in Arizona stop buying Breyer and it is ashame. Breyer’s is on its way out!
November 11th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Those bastards changed the flavor in my favorite breyers ice cream of tutti frutti fresh and fruity. They certainly are going to hear from my lawyer about this.
November 13th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
I live in South Florida, and just noticed the tara gum a couple of buys ago (I read the ingredients every time I buy something ) - I am very disappointed, and was amazed and pleased to see that there has been such an outpouring of feeling. Apparently, they have been spreading the ‘new recipe’ across the country region by region.
For those of you who want to know about all these additives, read Earl Mindell’s “Unsafe at Any Meal” - very scary.
November 16th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
We’ve been watching the decline like everyone else, and tonight was the last straw. Until now our Philly area grocers have carried the gum-less version of the “Natural” Vanilla. But no more. This gum stuff is such GoodHumor crap we’ll be taking it back to the store and complaining that it tastes like it’s been melted and refrozen 6 times (it does). We will not buy any more Breyers — and we buy a LOT of ice cream.
For people on the East Coast looking for a replacement: TURKEY HILL PHILADELPHIA STYLE in the black box is excellent. Their other styles have gums, but the Philadelphia style is gum-free. Come to think of it, it comes in similar flavors to the Breyers natural of 30 years ago- vanilla bean, chocolate, coffee, mint chip, and black cherry, if I remember right. Coincidence or did they know Breyers fans would need a new ice cream? Turkey Hill will get all of our ice cream money from now on, unless Unilever does an about face and then some.
PS - anyone around Trenton NJ can look into half gallons of Halo Farm ice cream, although you may have to buy it at the farm outlet in Trenton.
November 18th, 2007 at 1:41 am
This “outpour of feeling” as some say, it doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t really care if they add natural tara gum because 1. It still tastes amazing, to me at least, and 2. I don’t care about all the nation’s health care nowadays. How would really take back eaten ice cream? My god what has the world become.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:36 am
I noticed the change…. when it didn’t taste like Breyers All Natural Vanilla. Then I looked closely at the dish and noted that it wasn’t melting like “real” Ice Cream. That sent me to the freezer, to review the ingredients on the package… I noted the TARA GUM… and then looked far more closely at the over-all packaging to see if it indicated any change in process or ingredients…(like Double Churn..da) nothing… Pure Consumer FRAUD as far as I’m concerned.
I’ve quite buying Breyers Ice Cream - why pay a premium price for a now far less than premium product, to a company with such low morals and sneaky sales methods? The only way Unilever will get the message is if enough of us become “former” customers, while at the same time discouraging anyone else from buying their junk. That includes complaints to the Store Managers were we shop about the Breyers FRAUD…
November 28th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Wow this was quite an unex