The fall of Breyer's - Adam Milazzo's Personal Site

Before about 18 months ago, I recommended Breyer's ice cream to everyone as "the best", at least as far as what was available in the average US market. It was made with simple ingredients, and had the best texture of any ice cream available. Unlike some "ice creams" that are so far from the real thing that they won't even melt, Breyer's melted in the mouth most delightfully. And it tasted great, too. That's because they didn't add gum, or any of that other crap.

Then one day, I noticed an abrupt change in the taste and texture of Breyer's ice cream. I looked at the ingredients and noticed that they had added gum. 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 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!!" [sic]

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.

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. But anything to make a buck, right?

Adam Milazzo

Comments

.: test | 04/24/08 01:54PM :.

your blog ate my comment :-(

an anonymous Bryant

.: ok | 04/24/08 01:55PM :.

OK, if you don't specify an email, it eats the comment. boo hoo. anyways I was saying there's a place called Theno's in Redmond (http://seattle.citysearch.com/profile/10758546/redmond_wa/theno_s_dairy.html) and the reviewer says it is organic/hormone-free/non-homogenized milk, has potential. So if not Breyer's, then what?

an anonymous Bryant

.: grr | 04/25/08 01:41AM :.

And what's with these magically escaped quotes? Seems like my host "upgraded" PHP and broke my site again. It's annoying that PHP can't manage to be backwards compatible... and that my host can't bother to inform me about the breaking change.

But about Theno's, it sounds pretty good. :-)

Adam Milazzo

.: test | 04/25/08 01:56AM :.

Testing... no email, this quote's unescaped. Seems to be fixed!

an anonymous Adam

.: PS | 05/01/08 04:14AM :.

PS. You can always make your own. :-)

Adam Milazzo

.: hey, look | 05/04/08 06:57PM :.

It just occurred to me that in the ingredients list above, there's more corn syrup than cream in the ice cream!

Adam Milazzo

.: Whey | 05/16/08 01:24AM :.

Not only does Breyers "All Natural" ice cream have stabilizer gum in it now, but the newest batches have WHEY. The lettering on the box says "Real ice cream." What a crock.

Blue Bunny Natural Vanilla has no stabilizers in it, and it almost tastes like how Breyers used to be.

an anonymous Perry Justus

.: Cool Whip | 05/03/10 06:20AM :.

I used to like breyers. now it's frozen cool whip, ugh. Never buying anything from them again.

an anonymous Dman

.: Breyer's | 07/08/10 10:35PM :.

I got sucked into a buy one get one free offer and bought some Breyer's ice cream. I just finished eating Breyer's cherry vanilla ice cream. Wow, what a huge disappointment! It doesn't even resemble what it used to be. It now resembles the texture of slightly frozen Cool Whip and is foamy in the mouth! Yuck! I had already told myself i would never by Breyer's again when they reduced the size of the container to 1.5 quarts, and then again when they started adding extra ingredients, but the change in texture has officially done me in. Breyer's used to be the only kind of ice cream I would eat; now I will never eat it again. It sucks now. Too bad.

an anonymous Tortoise

.: Corn Syrup | 10/16/10 09:33PM :.

Thanks for this, We just realized our Breyers has corn syrup, so I was searching the web to see if anyone else noticed. Wow, we didn't know about Unilever buying them out. We definitely won't be eating Breyers anymore. Just when we thought they were trying to be slick by reducing the size to a quart , they changed the ingredients too. What a joke.

an anonymous Melissa

.: Corn syrup | 10/21/10 12:35AM :.

I've hated the taste after they put gum in it but I stuck with Breyers because they didn't put corn syrup in... Even when they shrunk the container.
ALL OF THERE ICE CREAM HAVE CORN SYRUP NOW! I DID NOTICE!

There is no difference between Breyers and other brands now. I might as well eat some better tasting brands that have corn syrup in them... But most likely I'll be making my own.

I hope Breyers and UniClever crash and burn...

an anonymous IScream

.: Switched to Home Made | 08/12/11 12:57AM :.

We also used to buy Breyers exclusively, but for a few years now, since the change, only eat home made or Haagen-Dazs on occasion. It still irks me, but at least nobody is making money off us because we refuse to buy this garbage.

an anonymous glenn

.: home-made is great | 09/20/11 05:57AM :.

I also started making home-made ice cream. It's really quite fun, and you can make all kinds of flavors that you can't get from the store, and make them as light or rich as you like.

I think you can get a decent machine to freeze the ice cream for about $30 (but do some research), so it's really worth looking into.

Adam Milazzo

.: what a shame | 10/19/11 05:41PM :.

I also noticed immediately when they started adding gum to the vanilla, and they really ruined the cherry vanilla. I wrote to them to complain and told that they ruined a classic recipe, they responded that if i'm not satisfied i can get my money back, they totally missed the point! Truly sad..... if they want to make crap they shouldn't call it Breyers. Another real classic american product ruined for a couple bucks, such a waste, it's fraud really!

an anonymous Tom