ICECREAM SHAM - Breyers is not all natural anymore.

I remember growing up, that Breyers was branded as "ALL NATURAL". There were only 4 natural ingredients familiar to the everyday consumer: Sugar, Vanilla beans, Sugar, Cream....and maybe Strawberries. A simple ice cream that stands apart from the 20 other varieties of other icecreams out there in the freezer section. Now that I'm all grown up, I seek out Breyers because of the legacy memory of it being wholesome. 

The other day I paid the extra $ so that I could feel good about what I was eating/buying. I saw the Breyers label and instantly (without reading any labels) bought it and served it to my family. I'm angered enough to actually write about it, because I don't want anyone else to be fooled. I might as well have paid the cheapest amount for whatever store brand was out there, because I was still putting these horrible ingredients into my body and still paying a premium for it:


1. Mono and Diglycerides
2. Corn Syrup
3. Guar Gum
4. Carrageenan


The thing that made me super mad, was the ever so slight deception. Consumers are used to trusting a brand for what it stands for, and then suddenly it's not what you expect. I just want transparency, so I can decide what is best for myself.

When researching when Breyers suddenly changed, I found this exerpt on another concerned consumers blog:

"I went to their website and noticed that they had also sold their soul to Unilever Corporation, a huge conglomerate with a corporate mission to buy up all the unique brands with good reputations and followings, and turn them into mass-produced crap while wringing out as many bucks as they can until people notice. Now I recommend that people don't buy Breyer's ice cream.

I thought the only thing Unilever made was the soap I use?

I quickly emailed Breyer's about it, and got a response from Unilever saying they had added gum to improve quality! Cutting through the corp-jargon, I noticed that what they were really saying is that they were trying to boost profits by reducing quality control in their distribution network, and after the ice cream started to melt and refreeze, turning icy, they decided to add gum to cover up the issue. Saying as much in my response, I got back a rather haughty reply saying "At Breyers were proud of our all natural heritage!!"

I wrote back, noting that it was fitting that she had used the word "heritage" — something they (Unilever) had inherited from the previously-great Breyer's Ice Cream company, and which they were proceeding to thoroughly destroy. Do you remember the old Breyer's Ice Cream commercials? They usually featured a young child, trying to read the ingredients in a competitor's ice cream. Confronted with phrases like "soy lecithin", "potassium sorbate", and "sodium nitrate", the child struggled. When handed a box of Breyer's ice cream, he was able to quickly and happily read off the ingredients: milk, cream, sugar, and strawberries.

I couldn't find the ones I remember, but I found this one, which is older, but gives the idea:

I included in that same letter a copy of the ingredients list from one of Unilever's new ice creams selling under the Breyer's name:

Ingredients: milk, skim milk, sugar, corn syrup, cream, maltodextrin, whey, cellulose gel, mono & diglycerides, guar gum, cellulose gum, natural flavor, carob bean gum, carrageenan. caramel swirl: sugar, water, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, non fat milk solids, butter, salt, molasses, pectin, soy lecithin, sodium citrate, natural flavor, lactic acid, potassium sorbate. waffle cone pieces: fudge coating (sugar, coconut oil, cocoa powder, nonfat milk powder, whole milk powder, anhydrous milkfat, soy lecithin, vanilla), waffle cones (unenriched wheat flour, sugar, corn starch, palm and/or soybean oil, bamboo fiber, soy lecithin, natural flavor, soy flour, salt), natural flavor....holy crap!

I asked her if that's something they are proud of. I never got a reply.

UPDATE: Also, under Unilever, Breyer's ice cream contains milk from cows injected with Monsanto's rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone). Milk from cows injected with rBGH has been linked to cancer, which is why it's banned in most countries. (It's not banned in the US because of political corruption.) rBGH also causes deterioration of the health of the cows, such that they suffer debilitating diseases, become lame, and often must be euthanized.

Is that what the major manufacturers of our food think America wants? I don't.

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Tell your friends! Don't buy Breyers anymore, or at least if you're going to...don't be fooled thinking you're eating all natural when you're not! Moral: Double check your labels, and don't think that brands that you've been trusting for years are the same as they've always been!

If you have the time, here's a recipe to make your own.