Comments on: Ice Cream Scandal

By: Andrew Jorgensen

Andrew Jorgensen — Wed, 27 May 2009 05:55:18 +0000

In principle it’s important to “vote with your wallet,” but it’s never effective unless you (with people like you) control enough of the money to get noticed. This is why a website highlighting specific instances of corporate deception and encouraging readers to raise awareness and participate in a boycott would be a good thing.

Another way of looking at the “vote with your wallet” idea is that we are already voting with our wallets and the market will ultimately show if consumers are okay with the changes these companies are making. If the manufacturers have misjudged what the market will bear they will suffer financially. If, on the other hand, they have judged well then we will stop complaining and enjoy our new, smaller, “half gallon.”

What would be more effective in the influencing the ice cream business would be legislation changing the way it’s measured. For example they could be required to sell their product by weight rather than by volume. This would immediately unveil the more-nefarious practice of whipping more air into the product.

On a related note: Water or oil in cans of Tuna needs to be considered packaging and therefor NOT part of the net weight.

By: DJ

DJ — Tue, 26 May 2009 02:51:06 +0000

The only way to stop this sort of thing is to boycott the companies who produce these products. They are simply taking advantage of consumers because they can. I remember times when companies improved products to win new customers to make better profit. Just don’t buy ice cream, let them go out of business like the US automakers.

By: Phil

Phil — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 03:10:12 +0000

I have been looking for a website to air this type of company greed and deception. I thought of starting one myself but I am not computer savvy enough to do it.
I worked for a large paper products manufacturer that made bathroom tissue as one of it’s products. When I went to work there many years ago there was 1000 one ply sheets on a roll or 500 two ply sheets. Later
they started making it “softer” by embossing the sheets with a design. The rolls now have 220 two ply sheets on a roll, so as you may have guessed the softnes was just a ploy to make you think they were doing it to make your hindy feel better. Later on they reduced the size of the sheet slightly to get more rolls from the same amount of paper.
So whenever a company tells you they are “improving” the product you better check the size of weight to see how much less you are getting.
If anyone knows of a site that lists this type of consumer deciet please let me know as this seems to be more and more common. Thanks for letting me spout off.

By: PHL19102

PHL19102 — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 03:07:08 +0000

I hadn’t been buying ice cream for some time and just recently bought some of my beloved Breyers for the first time in almost 10 months. And what to my surprise … just as you said … a smaller carton. I also just assume a standard 1/2 gallon size and it didn’t occur to me until I got how how much smaller the cartons had gotten while the price have increased. Another reason to stick to my diet! Thanks for posting the information!

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:04:29 +0000

This is my solution:
http://www.cuisinartwebstore.com/products/icecream_yogurt_makers

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:56:22 +0000

btw- the offender in this case: TARA GUM! Please!
I suppose they could put pure rubber in it, too — it would still be “natural,” right?

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:32:33 +0000

Oh, I forgot to mention: I used to be a big fan of Breyer’s, but I am off it now partly because of the deceptive containers and partly because of the change in their product ingredients (I remember when Breyer’s was “All Natural” — not anymore!).