Why Magnum Ice Cream Has 'Angered the Public'?

Click to read the original article for details Source: 36Kr - Future Consumption (WeChat ID: lslb168) Ice cream brands are in trouble again. Once again, the controversy revolves around mid-to-high-priced ice cream; once again, it stems from ingredient disputes, but this time the protagonist has shifted from Zhong Xue Gao to Magnum.

A netizen mentioned in a Weibo post that Magnum's inner ice cream uses different ingredients domestically and internationally: domestic uses vegetable oil and milk powder, while abroad it is made with milk.

Netizens have questioned: since ice cream made with vegetable oil is much cheaper than that made with milk and cream, why does Magnum, as a premium ice cream brand, sell at high prices using cheap raw materials? On August 1, Magnum's official Weibo account responded with a long image, mainly stating: First, Magnum complies with national regulations. According to the national standard GB/T31114's definition of ice cream, Magnum products fall under one category: combined-type vegetable-fat ice cream. Second, the "vegetable fat" in the ingredient list refers to "vegetable oil," not non-dairy creamer. Because Magnum products are a combination of ice cream and chocolate, the "vegetable fat" here means the ice cream uses "vegetable oil," not that it contains non-dairy creamer. Third, Magnum is committed to researching plant-based ingredients to reduce environmental impact. However, this response did not quell public skepticism. By using environmental protection as an excuse and avoiding the issue of "double standards" in ingredients between domestic and foreign products, the response further fueled public anger. Amid widespread criticism, Magnum deleted the response Weibo post. At this point, consumers' attention expanded from Magnum to all ice cream brands.

Is Vegetable Oil Harmful?

The reason this post caused such a stir is that when vegetable oil is used as margarine in desserts like ice cream and cakes, it is often referred to as hydrogenated vegetable oil.

Image source: Internet. Hydrogenated vegetable oil is a cheap substitute for animal cream. The overly sweet, greasy, and not-so-good-tasting cream we used to eat was mostly hydrogenated vegetable oil. The biggest harm of hydrogenated vegetable oil is that it contains trans fatty acids, which have been proven to increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and other adverse health effects. Therefore, the U.S. FDA explicitly banned the addition of trans fats in food in 2015, and reiterated in January 2020 that food manufacturers are prohibited from adding trans fats anywhere. In response, Magnum's announcement tried to clarify. The announcement stated, "Vegetable fat is not non-dairy creamer. It is vegetable oil, just like olive oil, coconut oil, and peanut oil that we commonly consume in daily life." Image source: Magnum Weibo. From this explanation, it is clear that the author of the announcement has a flawed understanding of margarine-related knowledge, and the clarification did not adequately address the public's concerns. First, consumers did not question whether Magnum used non-dairy creamer. The cheap ingredient suspected of being harmful is exactly what the announcement calls "vegetable oil," i.e., "vegetable cream." The relationship between non-dairy creamer and vegetable cream is as follows: according to Guokr's science popularization, the production of non-dairy creamer contains vegetable cream, so the main harmful substance in non-dairy creamer comes from trans fatty acids in vegetable cream. Thus, Magnum's official statement of "vegetable oil" actually indirectly admits that Magnum may be using cheap vegetable cream that contains trans fatty acids. Moreover, vegetable cream is not at all equivalent to the examples given in the announcement, such as "olive oil, peanut oil, coconut oil." The latter are vegetable oils used for cooking; they are liquid and have not undergone hydrogenation, so they naturally cannot contain trans fatty acids. "Vegetable cream," on the other hand, refers to those oils that are solid. The raw materials for vegetable cream include liquid oils like palm oil, which are made through hydrogenation, and trans fatty acids are a byproduct of the process of turning liquid vegetable oils into solid cream. Therefore, in ice cream where vegetable oil is a main ingredient, the role of vegetable oil is to serve as cream. Hence, "vegetable oil" here refers to "vegetable cream," not just liquid vegetable oil. However, in recent years, after recognizing the dangers of trans fatty acids, companies have gradually reduced the trans fatty acid content in hydrogenated oils by improving the hydrogenation process. At the same time, non-hydrogenated vegetable oil technology has been developed to achieve zero trans fatty acids. So, we cannot definitively say that the vegetable cream used by Magnum necessarily contains trans fatty acids. It is possible that through more advanced and expensive techniques, they produce "premium vegetable cream" with zero trans fatty acids. But according to Guokr's report, surveys show that about 90% of ice cream and 80% of margarine on the market contain trans fatty acids. Additionally, Magnum's vegetable-fat ice cream has not been promoted in the U.S., possibly because it cannot meet the zero trans fatty acid requirements in countries like the U.S. Therefore, it is highly likely that Magnum uses the same ordinary vegetable cream as other cheap ice creams.

What Makes Magnum Expensive?

Since hydrogenated vegetable oil is so harmful, why is it widely used by food companies? The reason is: it's cheap.

From raw material prices, one liter of vegetable-based whipping cream costs about 20 yuan, while animal cream costs 2-3 times more. Moreover, hydrogenated vegetable oil is easily soluble in water, easy to flavor, and easy to store and transport. This further saves costs in the production process. The recent batch of mid-to-high-end ice cream brands has differentiated themselves by upgrading raw materials like cream. According to milk fat content, ice cream is divided into full-milk-fat, semi-milk-fat, and vegetable-fat types. In the past, cheap ice creams were vegetable-fat ice cream, using margarine, with relatively low nutritional value and cost. Magnum, which has been criticized this time, is such an example: using cheap raw materials but not selling at a cheap price. In contrast, milk-fat ice cream made with milk and natural cream has better taste and is healthier. Below is a summary from 36Kr - Future Consumption of common ice creams on the market: In addition to milk fat content, the "combined type" and "plain type" in the figure refer to whether they contain ingredients other than ice cream, such as jam, crispy coating, chocolate, etc. For example, Baskin-Robbins vanilla flavor is plain type, but mocha almond flavor is combined type. The differences among ice cream, ice cream bars, and popsicles also lie in milk fat and protein content. Ice cream has the highest, popsicles the lowest. According to national standards: Ice cream has milk fat ≥5%, protein ≥2.2%; ice cream bars have fat ≥1%, protein ≥0.4%; popsicles are mainly water and sugar, with total sugar (as sucrose) ≥7%. So, for example, Madier is actually a popsicle (its promotions also call it a popsicle), although its ingredients are similar to Dongbei Daban, the content or concentration of ingredients differs. The expensive Zhong Xue Gao falls into the ice cream bar category, with not much fat and protein. But its premium price mainly comes from ingredients and production costs. For instance, its 66-yuan Ecuadorian Pink Diamond flavor ice cream bar is expensive because of the lemon yuzu ingredient from Kochi, Japan, costing 600 yuan per jin, and the stick is made of biodegradable straw, costing 10-30 times more than ordinary sticks. Thus, the quality of an ice cream/bar/popsicle can be judged from multiple angles, not just fat and protein content. Magnum's official Weibo also explained that the chocolate in its ice cream is of good quality, with a content of over 30%. Perhaps Magnum believes that its high premium is justified by the chocolate, satisfying consumers. But given such high pricing, Magnum's target consumers are those with higher demands on food quality. Magnum might consider making the basic ingredients as healthy as possible. PS: From August 24-26, 2021, the 2021 (4th) China FMCG Conference, hosted by New Distribution, will be held in Shanghai. Focusing on industry trends + practical cases + growth connection as the core, 3,000 FMCG practitioners will gather. 10 themed forums cover new retail O2O, community group buying, short video live e-commerce, distributor transformation, rise of new consumer brands, new alcoholic beverages, distribution B2B supply chain, omni-channel marketing, B2B2C new technology applications, etc., with operators from various segments bringing the latest case studies. Confirmed heavyweight guests so far include: 1. Tao Shiquan, founder of Jiangxiaobai; 2. Yao Xuhong, general manager of Meiyijia Holdings Co., Ltd.; 3. Lu Xiuqiong, global expert partner at Bain & Company and former vice president of marketing for Coca-Cola China; 4. Chen Xiaodong, senior vice president of Nestlé Greater China; 5. Zhang Fujun, president of Lee Kum Kee Sauce Group China; 6. Bi Chaojiao, general manager of China Resources Snow Breweries (China) Marketing Center; 7. Yang Hongbin, vice president of Junlebao Dairy Group; 8. Yang Shun, COO of Lipton Greater China; 9. Zhang Yipeng, general manager of Kuaishou E-commerce SKA Brand Operations Center; 10. Li De, e-commerce general manager of Gold Hong Ye Paper Group... A grand gathering for FMCG professionals, you must be there! Are you "watching" me?