Remember 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?
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I grew up eating Breyers in the 1950s and have fond memories of the rich vanilla bean frozen treat. Stopped eating ice cream a couple of years ago to cut down on sugar. I wanted a treat today and I bought a “half-gallon” of “natural” vanilla, noticing that the package did not say vanilla bean. I was so shocked to get that artificial creamy taste and texture that is in cheap ice cream. When I looked at the package and found the tara gum, I felt betrayed. This is not the four ingredient product that they used to advertise. Tried to write a complaint to Breyers, but its Website doesn’t have a contact us feature , so I wrote a complaint to Unilever. Apparently from reading this site, it will do no good. What a shame. I would gladly pay more for a smaller package of the real deal.
I don’t eat ice cream often. It is a sweet indulgence. I won’t buy Breyers anymore, so I can either switch to Haagen Dazs, Ben and Jerry’s or buy an ice cream maker and make healthier, less expensive treats. It is not the end of the world … just the end of a quality product.
Sad….. WHY are there NO … virtually “NO” positives in this thread????
HELLO Unilever … anybody home?????
I see that the big guys at Unilever will not even read these comments. They are off on their yachts and not watching the cash cow.
All the minions won’t say a word to disrupt their paychecks. Greed goes on.
Breyers was my favorite ice cream for a quarter century or more. Why? Because it had all natural ingredients – no gums, fillers, stabilizers, and all that rubbish. It was just clean, natural, delicious ice cream – without too much fat.
Now it has slimy-tasting tara gum, whatever that is. No more Breyers for me. My wife, a long-time fan of Mint Chocolate Chip, was not just disappointed, but disgusted. I will have to see what is available at Whole Foods, and I will also look into making my own.
On top of that, the smaller containers are annoying.
I was at the store buying my favorite weekly reward, Breyer’s ice cream when I decided to read the ingredients again and much to my horror found that Breyer’s has added tara gum. I will not eat Breyer’s ice cream anymore. It seems Haagen Das is my only choice again. Shame on Unilever for succumbing to economic pressure for a cheaper product and not informing me that they had changed their ingredients and hoping to scarf up sales by me not noticing the new ingredients list. I not only feel disappointed but betrayed and abandoned. So much for me buying any unilever products
We used to love Breyer’s and bought it quite often but have not been so keen on it the last couple years. A while back the “double-churn” got my attention because I figured they were just selling air. Today, I have finally looked at the ingredients and now I am even more annoyed. Will stop buying Breyer’s now for certain. Natural Vanilla? What a joke:
Glucose, “natural” (mystery) flavour, mono and diglycerides, cellulose gum, polysorbate 80, carrageenan. It is true that we have been eating much less of the stuff and enjoying it less. Now I know why!
Glad to see I’m not the only one who hates this change. They add gum so they can keep it forever in the freezer without it forming ice crystals. Cheap stuff now, might as well as buy Safeway or Kroger. Its hard to believe that Kraft actually sold a great product, Unilever bought it and coasted on the name for awhile and then commenced to cheapen it out. Good God! the food scientists are to blame.
I just bought some vanilla and some chocolate Haagen-Dazs at the local grocery store. Now I am reminded what authentic ice cream has to taste like!!! It is also colder, denser, and has a real texture (not one created with additives). No extra air either!
After enjoying several spoonfulls, I threw what was left of my old Breyers vanilla in the sink and melted it with water. It was even sort of creepy how the ice cream melted, remaining sort of stuck together even though the temperature had been raised.
Good bye Breyers forever. Will buy other brands BUT NOT BEN AND JERRY’S!!! You smart ass marketing folks at Unilever. I know you are laughing when the folks who want an authentic ice cream switch to your other brand. But that simply ain’t going to happen. I will not buy any of your ice cream, your Red Rose and Lipton Tea, Skippy Peanut Butter, and your various brands of soap. (I will still use Becel margarine, but it doesn’t mean I am happy about it!)
I will buy a different brand of authentic ice cream AND/OR buy from my local gelato store AND/OR make my own AND/OR substitute a different dessert … AND I am buying an ice cream machine to make my own.
Like to hear that. I have avoided anything Unilever myself. And Haagen dazs is the last decent ice cream left. Agreed, Ben and Jerry’s imo is total crap. Coasting on the reputation just like the Breyers.
Fuck Breyers!, ive been eating it since i was a kid, and now it sux….period. Sorry for the language but i dont have many joys left in life, at least i had my ice cream, now i have crap.
I am ashamed to say I actually paid money for vanilla with Natural Tara Gum because I had to try it for myself (luckily it was on sale). It will be the last Breyers I ever buy. Very disappointing. Basically, their response for adding the gum is so that even it the temperature during shipping is unacceptable, they can still sell it. That’s reassuring.
I just purchased Breyer’s all natarul strawberry ice cream with tara gum. The taste is not the way it used to be and the size of the “half gallon” is 75% of its’ former self. I will not purchase Breyers again as I will make my own ice cream as I am currently making my owm bread and pizza for similar reasons.
I just purchased Breyer’s all natarul strawberry ice cream with tara gum. The taste is not the way it used to be and the size of the “half gallon” is 75% of its’ former self. I will not purchase Breyers again as I will make my own ice cream as I am currently making my own bread and pizza for similar reasons.
Breyers Vanilla Fudge Twirl . . . for years has been my favorite. Not just my favorite ice cream, but my favorite snack. Used to be that we couldn’t keep a half-gallon in the freezer for more than 2 or 3 days. Rarely, was I dissatified that it had gotten gritty . . . but that certainly didn’t stop me from buying it. I liked the way it melted, thin and milky instead of the frothy mess you get from crappy ice cream (and now get from Breyers). I hated all other ice creams, and told my wife, “not to buy anything but Breyers . . . I don’t care if it’s more expensive!”
Now we’ve had the “new and ruined” Breyers ice cream in our freezer for over a 2 weeks along with the Turkey Hill ice cream (which now gets eaten). I like the Turkey Hill Phila style almost as much as the old Breyers and way better than the “new and ruined” Breyers all pumped with air and added gum.
Didn’t they even do any marketing/testing? I can’t believe that anyone found the new product better than the old product.
And the shrinking containers!! WTF!!
Breyers! You had loyal, life-long consumers…We were willing to pay more for your product because it WAS the BEST. You didn’t need to play games with the packaging, we were willing to pay more for your product because it WAS the BEST.
Now it’s not even as good as the other “secondary” choices out there and I will now tell my wife not to buy it . . . I don’t like it anymore.
As soon as I tasted it…yuck!
Any one know a of a replacement brand?
Breyers contents are worse than tara gum; how about “modified milk ingredients”? See my commentary, “The Identity Theft of Breyers Ice Cream” http://www.genekeyes.com/blog.html#Breyers
I see we have dropped from the radar from lack of postings. Breyers has not improved, but is struggling; there are 2-1 store specials and coupons. Times are rough all over.
There is mail order from the high ends for some $22 a quart…..
The best idea so far is to make your own!
Hey look … another fan club!
http://routingbyrumor.wordpress.com/2008/05/25/unilever-shrinks-its-products-again-breyers-ice-cream-now-25-smaller/
Dittos AGAIN … Unilever going down.
http://kootenaycoopradio.com/deconstructingdinner/071708.htm
Golly … not a compliment in sight and THEY DON’T CARE!
the tara gum was added to compete with their largest competitor’s texture–dreyers/ edys. i wrote to them when the original vanilla bean was changed and truly ruined.another american original is gone.a true shame!!!
ps i actually wrote 3 times and i received those same canned letters and no reply on the 3rd. i was not satisfied with their answer.
has anyone mentioned the reduced size containers and increased price???
Over a year ago I got disgusted because my favorite flavor which I had been buying for years and years(chocolate chip) didn’t taste right. i couldn’t figure out what was going on until I noticed the box said in small print “with chocolate flavored chips” or something ridiculous. They added “soy lecithin” to the chips. I wrote an email to voice my opinion and got the same response you all got. Then i started just buying the natural vanilla and adding my own Lindt chocolate but then the vanilla stopped tasting right. I noticed the chewy taste but couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong with it. But it wasn’t the same and not as good. I still assumed that it was natural and I kept buying it but just thought the store was keeping it at the wrong temp or something wierd. Then they did the even smaller package and I found this site and realized it was the gum messing it up. So that is it.. I am done with them all together!
O I’m pissed.
It should be illegal to buy a brand, known for being natural, and dilute it with crap.
I bought Breyers vanilla thinking it was natural. I recently read the ingredients again as was horrified. There’s PALM OIL!!
Spread the word.
I don’t go overboard with luxury vacations or vehicles, or jewelry or name brand clothing, but I do indeed value GOOD FOOD and GOOD INGREDIENTS. I grew up in the kitchen and learned all ingredients are not created equal. In my recipes, I spare no expense for the perfect flavor, texture, and entire dining experience for my friends and family. Okay, now for the point of this entry…I homeschool my children, and we were doing a chemistry experiment pertaining to the molecular structure of polymers. The main ingredient which basically turned everything into a polymer was guar gum, which is pretty much the same thing as tara gum. You add a tiny pinch of the stuff to a liquid mixture, and it becomes more thick than you can believe. In my opinion, the tara gum is ONLY being used because it is a cheap replacement for the more expensive ingredient, cream, which thickens ice cream. Basically you take the watery milk, add tara gum, and you get an ice cream-like polymer. Sure, they might still add a little cream, but I’ve seen how this stuff works, and it would be a fraction of the cost to thicken milk with it rather than cream. I had not been eating ice cream for a while, and when I purchased my FORMER-favorite brand, I knew it was not what I had grown up eating! YUCK YUCK YUCK. I ate a polymer. We used to only buy Breyers, but I will never buy it again. I cannot stand FILLERS and frothy, air-filled, gummy ice cream. Breyers absolutely stinks with a capital SUCK now. It’s all about the Benjamins; not customer satisfaction.
Dear Breyers!
YOU SUCK you a-holes! Might as well eat your damn soap now! STICK WITH BODY WASH and return Breyers to actual ice cream not that sucky slimy crap you call NATURAL. SO IS DOG CRAP but I don’t really want to feed that to my kids either!
Breyers sucks now. Luckily, we have a hometown ice cream maker in Phoenix (Mary Coyle) that while it is a drive across town – still makes ice cream the right way. Cream & sugar.
Unilever should have stuck with soap now I am not buying their ice cream, nor their soap.
Unilever
Whitewash
When you don’t want to feed the world
When you just want to feed your bank balance
Wash your guilt away
Unilever washes whiter
Soap to clean those dirty hands
And a slap for the people who work the land
Unilever
Man-made hunger
Soap in our eyes
John West is the best
Old soap opera
No soap-reality
Legal slave trade
Domestos kills all known truths dead
Soap to wash the darkest stain
Profit covers up the pain
Of a slow, deliberate genocide
And all the dirt you want to hide
Take the black and wash it whiter
Brooke-Bond Oxo
Blue Band, Bird’s Eye
Lifebuoy, Sunsilk
Persil washes whiter
We make whitewash
We sell whitewash
Consume whitewash
Consumed by whitewash
Whitewash
Buy it
Somewhere in this cycle there’s me and you
What are we prepared to do?
(vomiting)
I was doing research on tara gum and somehow i came upon this article. I am absolutely amazed by how the use of tara can produce such a reaction in consumers. What is exactly the problem? Don’t you people have something better to do than worry about rediculous things like that? Where did you ever hear that there is any problem with tara? I don’t get the point of quoting a study that ofund tara harmless, but indicated a possible concern with some rediculos high consumption. There is barely any functional ingredient that does not become dangerous at such high levels. What about salt and sugar? Do you think those are natural? Well guess what they are both more dangerous at rediculos high conentrations. You know what else is dangerous at high levels. Stupidity! And maybe free time…
from truthinlabeling.org
Label changes signal that Breyers ice cream flavors we had thought to be MSG-free in the past may no longer be free of MSG.
For years, the Truth and Labeling Campaign has received reports from readers of our Web site who have had MSG-reactions from ice cream that contained “carrageenan.” We recommended to these people that they use Breyers natural ice cream that is packaged in a black box, limiting their selections to vanilla, strawberry and peach. We also indicated that most people were able to tolerate Hagan Daaz vanilla and strawberry ice creams.
Recently, Good Humor-Breyers, producer of Breyers ice creams, eliminated “vanilla” from their list of ingredients and replaced it with “natural flavors.”
We suspect that Good Humor-Breyers replaced “vanilla” with “vanillin” in order to save a little money, but even if they are now using “vanillin,” an apparently safe ingredient for MSG-sensitive people, the term “natural flavor” is a suspect term for MSG-sensitive people and, in more cases than not includes some processed free glutamic acid (MSG). The content of “natural flavor” can change at any time without notice since congress has declared flavors and flavorings to be proprietary, and do not require disclosure by food companies.
Because of concerns of MSG-sensitive people, we contacted Good Humor-Breyers in early June to voice our concerns regarding their change in ingredients and to explain that we no longer could recommend Breyers ice creams to readers of our Web site. We also pointed out that most MSG-sensitive people would not use a product that included “natural flavors.”
We were assured by the representative of Good Humor-Breyers to whom we spoke that we would be contacted by someone to discuss the issue and to, at least, assure me that the Breyers product remained safe for MSG-sensitive people. To this date, we have received no call from Breyers.
We can no longer recommend that MSG-sensitive people use Breyers ice creams. We believe that all MSG-sensitive people should contact Good Humor-Breyers and express their disappointment that the company has demonstrated their lack of concern for consumers who are MSG-sensitive, a group, which based on peer reviewed studies numbers more than 25% of the population.
You may contact Good Humor-Breyers by E-mail, Snail mail, or by telephone:
This page was last updated on February 27, 2007.
IF MSG ISN’T HARMFUL, WHY IS IT HIDDEN?
I haven’t read through of the replies, so sorry if this has already been mentioned, but Turkey Hill ALL NATURAL RECIPE(in the black box!!) is very much the same product as the former Breyer’s All Natural…The chocolate contains only cream, sugar, nonfat milk and cocoa. Yay!! It’s been reincarnated!
Turkey Hill has been mentioned, but it’s always good to hear positive discussion of alternatives.
The sad thing is the NAME. Unilever bought a NAME, and in this way found a place on supermarket shelves. They cared nothing for ruining that name. CRAP=MONEY is the equation they live by. Too bad it all too often works. They’ll lose the loyal old guard customers, but they’ll have a place on supermarket shelves with another bad product for many many years ahead. Good bye Mr. Breyer, your name lived a good hundred years. Goodbye many other great names and great products. Hello long ugly corporate future. Breyer’s: brought to you by the same people who brought us the Second Great Depression.
Ben and Jerry’s used to be so pure and delicious but unilever has ruined their products also.
I don’t eat ice cream too often but whenever I do feel the need, I buy myself a half gallon of Breyers ice cream. It has to be Breyers. I grew up in central Pennsylvania and Breyers ice cream was THE ice cream of my childhood. Their natural vanilla was the best ice cream with those little specks of vanilla beans. Yumm yumm. I’ve been a loyal Breyers consumer for almost forty years. I recently bought some strawberry ice cream and coffee ice cream for the holidays. My goodness! How disappointing it was to find that Breyers is now nothing more than a cheap ice cream.
My first indication was the way the ice cream had pulled away from the sides of the carton. It looked different. And I like my ice cream hard, really hard–I like to have to scrape it. My husband likes it softer; in fact, he leaves the carton on the counter for about ten minutes so it softens up. This day, my husband was able to stick a spoon into the middle of the carton and immediately start eating this new Breyer’s wanna-be fascimile dessert. Right out of the freezer. I immediately thought there was a problem with my freezer. I turned the freezer down and started calculating how much a new fridge/freezer was going to cost.
The second thing I did was go online to research any changes Breyers might have made to their ice cream to make it softer. (There’s something wrong with an ice cream which doesn’t harden in the freezer.) What a surprise, a revelation, a disappointment.
Add me to the legions of former Breyer ice cream loyalists who will no longer buy this once-perfect frozen treat. It looks like Haagen-Dazs is the alternative. What a shame for the original Breyers. It was such a Philly thing. Such a tradition. How could you do this Unilver??
Unilever tastes like cold shortening. Yuck!! I may have to resort to making my own ice cream.
Consumers please look at the labels on BREYERS. What you may think is ice cream may actually be FROZEN DESERT.
When we purchased the junk and tried it it gave me intestinal discomfort and a migraine headach. I tried to flush the crap down the drain and discoverd when I did so it whold not disolve and was like trying to disolve greese or motor oil to get it to go down the drain. Check to see the ingredients. You will be suprised to see the amount of artificial ingredients and oil in the product. Not much dairy.
Shame on Breyers. They have lost a customer.
I once heard that for every one person who speaks up, there are a thousand silent ones with the same opinion.
Breyer’s is sadly no more.
So, I don’t eat ice cream very often. So when I do, I like it to be good. Man was I upset today when I opened the quart of Breyers vanilla. I tasted it and thought “is there something wrong with my freezer?” And then “this has a nasty aftertaste, maybe I am sick.” So just for the heck of it I turned to the ingredient list, hoping to see the 4 kid-friendly ingredients that I remember from the commercial. Man was I mad at what I saw. The updated formula is nasty. Crystal-like texture, not smooth, and has the aftertaste of aspartame. What happened to the thick and rich ice cream of my youth? This is a disgrace! Next time I will save the gas money and make my own. The ice cream maker doesn’t get used enough anyway.
R.I.P. Breyers – Long live corporate profits
I was told by Jack Samuels of http://www.truthinlabeling.org, that Breyers began to produce a new type of softer ice cream a few years ago that contains lots of sources of glutamate. So we stuck to the original hard type vanilla ice cream. People began to complain about the original vanilla, so Jack called and asked the plant people some questions. He found out that they do not always clean the machines after making the newer soft vanilla ice cream that is full of glutamate sources, before making the original that we used to do fine with. This contaminates the original icecream. This may be another explanation. Another one is that most dairy products are treated with preservatives of some kind( mostoften sulfites). The milk may contain suliftes and also, most plant machinery and dairy containers are cleaned with a sulfite solution. Many who are MSG sensitive are sulfite sensitive. Reactions vary but some mimic MSG reactions. The most common are congestion, headache, stomach reactions, pain in back and joints, belching, etc.
I guess, like all of you, I found this after contacting Unilosers about my bad ice cream experience. I have always liked the coffee ice cream myself. Here’s my theory; They have double churned the life out of this stuff to introduce enough air into the mix to double or triple the volume. In order to make this crap feel like “something” in your mouth, they have to add a gum to it. I wont be buying their products any more. I hope that they dont apply for a government bail out after they run all their brand names into the dirt.
I live with the smaller than 1/2 gal.size on my all time favorite ice cream,Breyer’s All Natural,milk,sugar,cream and natural flavors I chose this ice cream because it was not as creamy as others and more like homemade,butI just can’t live with the NEW.D—!CHB.
I haven’t bought Breyer’s in ages, but bought the extra creamy vanilla a few weeks ago to make my 3 year old son milkshakes to help him gain weight (the extra creamy does not have tara gum…it has carob & guar gum). Last Tuesday, I bought the all natural vanilla with tara gum. On Wednesday afternoon, I made my son his milkshake. On Thursday morning, he complained of itching on his knees and I noticed a small mark that looked like a bug bite on him. When I picked him up from school later that day, he had a similar mark on his face. We came home, I called the doctor and not realizing they were hives or an allergic reaction (possibly to a food), I made him another milkshake. Thursday night, the hives were terrible, his ankles and feet swelled up and on Friday, they were worse. They went away after the doc gave him a prescription for a steroid (oraped or predilisone (sp?)) and the doc thought it was due to a viral infection. He didn’t drink a milkshake on Friday or Saturday. He had one last night and the hives were back this morning! I’ve kept a food diary since the first breakout. As far as I know, the only different item in his diet is the tara gum. He is not on any medications, etc. He’s never had an allergic reaction to food before. Therefore, I believe he is allergic to tara gum. I threw away the ice cream and will never buy it again. I think I will bust out my own ice cream maker or drive to Freddy’s Farm for some homemade stuff! If it isn’t the Breyer’s All Natural Vanilla, I will repost. He has an appointment with an allergist on March 17th.
I recently purchased a pot of haagan daaz icecresm from tescos when I opened it it had not covering over it so it was in eatable so it was a waste down to your company
I, too, just realised that the funny taste of Breyer’s Vanilla was due to the tara gum. It didn’t taste clean when I had some for dessert the other night.
I wanted to let you know that I received the EXACT same response from Unilever today. I guess they have accountants dictating ingredients now.
I’m off to research ice cream makers.
Anything in vanilla ice cream besides milk, cream, sugar, vanilla bean is just plain cheating.
Just wanted to let the readers know that even 6 months after posting my comment I am still reminded of this travesty every time I eat or think of ice cream.
I have not bought any Breyers since and will never buy it. I am even thinking of writing to my local grocery stores. I did notice the Vancouver Yacht Club has a Breyers freezer with “ice cream” treats for sale. Might recommend they switch to Haagen Dazs as they probably don’t want a second or third rate product.
If I do this, I will cc Unilever as well. Might have a different effect than just posting on the internet or complaining.
For those of you out there who are willing to eat guar gum or tara gum ice cream (but I dont’ know why), just buy the local dairy brand and save some money. Better yet, just buy a different dessert.
I did not know about these changes to Breyer’s but was brought to this blog because of my anger over noticing that my “half gallon” was 1.5 quarts. I didn’t read every posting here but I noticed several people using “half gallon.” I paid about $6 for my “half gallon” which in reality is $8 when compared to the real half gallon my mom used to buy. Interestingly, my mom has been complaining for years that Breyer’s vanilla just isn’t as creamy as it used to be. Did she notice a change in the recipe, the distribution time, something? Or has she had more of the premium ice creams that are creamier and is just noticing a relative difference? Well now that Unilever in their form letter response is saying that we consumers demanded a creamier product, maybe my mom is more satisfied. I’ll have to ask. She doesn’t worry as much about this kind of thing and is often just happy when she is happy, regardless of what she is putting in her body. I wish we were dealing with more than just “our company is too large to care enough about the product and is big enough to care only that sales perform according to targets, or better” here but it’s the reality of capitalism in our society. Of course there are exceptions but the reality of it is that prices for certain items would be outrageously higher if the product were made with the same care and quality that we remember from times past. Just on volume alone, Breyer’s would be $8 if it were an actual half gallon. But add to that a more reliable distribution chain that gets the product to the consumer faster and at a more consistent temperature and you’re adding more $$ to the price. There are just too many Breyer’s buyers out there who don’t care enough to make a dent if we boycotted the product. Add to that younger people who never knew the better product and who don’t care about gums, etc. and you have a loyal customer base. Crap, I hate reality. With all of that said, I will never buy another “half gallon” of Breyer’s ice cream. And I’m still deciding if I want to write a letter and suffer the dissappointment when I receive that Unilever form letter knowing that a machine “read” my letter.
Capitalism. Free market. Unilever can do what they want. They own the brand. If people are stupid enough to pay a premium price for a mediocre product, then Unilever will take advantage of that. They have a lot of freezer space (market share) they will probably maintain (they hope) and the increased profits (from selling air) probably more than covers what business they lose. However, we as consumers have a choice and this internet forum is only one counter-attack to thier double-churn and “all natural” marketing propaganda. They are selling air. They are selling undesirable ingredients. So, those of you out there who don’t mind buying air, buy something cheaper. If you want traditional ingredients only, buy something else. Your dollar is your vote.
One more comment. In Canada, they had originally pursued a two-pronged strategy, offering the crappy stuff in a blue label, while still maintaining the traditional product in a dark label. This lasted until the appearance of the “double churn” on the dark label. My reaction was to stop buying. I am not super happy with the haagen dazs brand as I think their vanilla is a bit weak. Will still get around to making my own. Then all the ice cream companies will lose me as a customer. It has already happened with salad dressing. The store stopped selling our favourite dressing, so now we make it ourselves for a fraction of the cost and with very little effort.
I get ill from unnatural additives and won’t buy Bryers anymore either. In my search I found a tara gum plant for sale and in part reads, “…Peruvian exporter (in volumes) of Tara Powder (Tannins) used in the Leather industry . Molinos Asociados SAC is focused in the production of Tara Gum Powder used in the food industry. Our production plant has the latest technology available in the market to process more efficiently the Tara Tree Seed and obtain our main product identified by “MOLIGUM 5000″”
Something else to watch out for!
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