Nick’s: “Nick’s vegan line offers a frozen dessert with the same creaminess as their traditional Swedish-style ice creams, but animal-free and lactose-free.” (Perhaps Perfect Day is using each brand’s own description on the following text from the Perfect Day website.) Each brand uses different labeling conventions and words to describe the product. The Perfect Day website showcases three brands the company calls partners. (When followed by "dairy protein" that is more clear.) While Perfect Day uses the descriptor “animal-free”, even that can be confusing because it can also mean vegan. But because the word vegan has always been understood to mean free of dairy, it’s potentially confusing to use it for a product that contains whey protein.Īnd yet some brands are indeed using the word vegan. Is it vegan? Technically yes since the process does not use traditional animal ingredients. It is certainly challenging to figure out how to label biotech ice cream in a way that is both honest and marketable to consumers in a way they will understand. While the "plant-based" shelf tag mistake is likely the fault of the retailer, given that this biotech ice cream represents an entirely new food category that does not fit into any existing retailer sections, the confusion is not surprising. I had already noticed some inconsistencies in the roll-out of several ice cream brands based on the biotech dairy ingredient created and supplied by Perfect Day. People’s lives are potentially at risk with the wrong labeling on products containing such a common allergen as dairy protein. This is not your run in the mill deceptive labeling. Has this new technology been rushed to market without proper legal review? As a food lawyer, seeing mislabeled products sends shivers down my spine. To the contrary, it contains whey protein, which for some people could trigger serious allergic reactions. This is highly problematic given that Brave Robot’s ice cream is made with synthetic biology and is not plant-based. To them, it was just good ice cream.Last week, Food Navigator reporter Elaine Watson tweeted that she spotted the new ice cream brand Brave Robot on shelf with retailer-created tags reading “plant-based.” Sure, I tried to explain to them how it had the same proteins found in dairy but without the downsides of milk (like lactose), but they just nodded, said ‘huh’, and spooned more into their mouth. My family all liked Brave Robot too, but unlike me, they didn’t care as much about the impressive science behind it. I’ve had lots of plant-based ice cream, and while most taste pretty good (if you’re ever in Seattle, I’d strongly recommend Frankie & Jo’s coconut milk ice cream), none had ever fooled my taste buds into thinking they weren’t made with dairy. Vanilla was vanilla, but in a good way.Īfter trying all four, I can say all were smooth and creamy, flavorful and, most importantly, tasted just like dairy-based ice cream. The nutty flavor of Hazelnut with big chocolate chunks was my son’s favorite, and my wife liked the crunchy Butter Pecan. The thick veins of fudge and peanut butter were as yummy as they sound, and maybe more importantly, the science-forward ice cream didn’t taste weird, or well, science-y, at all. I immediately got to “work”.Īny combo of peanut butter and chocolate usually can’t miss, so that’s where I started. They combine the dried proteins with plant fats, water, vitamins and minerals to make a lactose-free product that has the same properties - taste, consistency, and nutritional breakdown - of milk.Ī few days later, the flavor lineup that landed on my doorstep was as follows: Vanilla, Buttery Pecan, PB ‘N Fudge, and Hazelnut Chocolate Chunk. Perfect Day makes its dairy by genetically modifying microflora to produce the two main proteins in milk: casein and whey. In case you’re not familiar with the concept of animal-free dairy, here’s how Catherine Lamb described Perfect Day’s dairy, which is the same formula used in the new Brave Robot line up: I figured why not? While I may not be a professional ice cream critic, the hundreds of gallons I’d logged in my life solidly place me in the ice cream enthusiast category. Last month when the founders of Perfect Day announced they’d launched a spinout called The Urgent Company to create science-forward food products that are earth-friendly, I got an email asking me if I’d like to try their first product: Brave Robot ice cream.
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