5 Fast-Food Chains That Don’t Serve Real Ice Cream
It’s summer, and temperatures are hitting record highs on the East Coast, making me crave ice cream daily. Sometimes we go to local mom-and-pop ice cream shops, and because we live in Philadelphia, water ice places like Rita’s and John’s. My kids are also obsessed with fast food ice cream, which is delicious. Only a minor catch: Most fast food chains don’t serve real ice cream. Per the USDA website, ice cream contains “not less than 1.6 pounds of total solids to the gallon, and weighs not less than 4.5 pounds to the gallon.” It also has “not less than 10 percent milkfat, nor less than 10 percent nonfat milk solids, except that when it contains milkfat at 1 percent increments above the 10 percent minimum.” So, technically, if it has less than 10% dairy milkfat or butterfat, it isn’t really ice cream. If you are curious, here are five fast-food chains that don’t serve real ice cream.
Dairy Queen
Most people refer to Dairy Queen as an ice cream chain. However, Dairy Queen has been very transparent about how un-ice cream its frozen desserts are. “Technically, our soft serve does not qualify to be called ice cream,” the FAQ section of the Dairy Queen website once stated. “While our soft serve product used to be categorized as ‘ice milk,’ the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) eliminated this category of product.”
Chick-fil-A
Every time I take the kids to Chick-fil-A, they beg for ice cream. Only the most popular dessert on the menu is actually called IceDream instead of ice cream, because it isn’t real ice cream. The frozen treat is just 3% butterfat, barely even soft serve, with main ingredients including milkfat and nonfat milk, sugar, less than 1% of natural and artificial flavors, mono and diglycerides, guar gum, and carrageenan, a thickener. The good news? It’s not as bad for you as most real ice cream. The “delicious, frozen dairy treat with an old-fashioned vanilla taste” is only 180 calories and 4 grams of fat per serving, including the cone, and even 4 grams of protein, per the company’s website.
McDonald’s
McDonald’s ice cream gets the most attention due to faulty machines, when the real headline is that the fast food restaurant doesn’t even serve ice cream. Head over to the McDonald’s menu, and the soft serve version is formally called a McDonald’s Vanilla Cone. “Our Vanilla Cone features creamy vanilla soft serve in a crispy cone,” they describe the dessert on their website. Ingredients include milk, sugar, cream, corn syrup, natural flavor, mono and diglycerides, cellulose gum, guar gum, carrageenan, and vitamin A palmitate. One cone contains 200 calories, 5 grams of fat, and 5 grams of protein.
Wendy’s
My kids will never say no to a Wendy’s Frosty, one of the most popular fast food desserts. In the FAQ section of Wendy’s website, the company addresses the question: Is Frosty ice cream or a milkshake? “Neither!” they confirm. “That is why it is one of the most iconic desserts. It has a creamy texture that’s thicker than a milkshake but not as firm as traditional scooped ice cream. Too thick for a straw and easily scooped with a spoon.” Ingredients include milk, sugar, corn syrup, cream, whey, and nonfat dry milk.
Sonic
Sonic offers various desserts in the “Frozen Zone” of their menu, including shakes and sundaes. However, you won’t find the term “ice cream” anywhere on the website. They clearly state that all the products are made with “soft serve” and don’t even refer to the shakes as “milkshakes.” You can get a 300-calorie Vanilla Cup, a “creamy, vanilla soft serve served in a cup.”
