I didn’t bring the class action lawsuit, but a big picture of Breyers Natural Vanilla online caught my attention today. The lawsuit hasn’t been decided in anyone’s favor, but Breyers decided to settle because their vanilla is made from certified vanilla; it is made from real vanilla. As a spokesperson explained, “While we don’t comment on litigation, Breyers Natural Vanilla is made with naturally sourced, Rainforest Alliance certified vanilla, and is carefully crafted to deliver the quality and taste people have loved for over 150 years.” It hasn’t been simply vanilla beans for quite a few years.
There are other substances in their “vanilla,” which the email replies I got from Breyers last spring told me. The lawsuit, however, didn’t even touch why water and skim milk are in the product, another instance of misleading packaging.
As you can see, only fresh cream, sugar and milk are mentioned on the front of the carton. In addition, the webpage to purchase from doesn’t list water and skim milk as ingredients, although they are on the actual ingredient label on the back of the carton! This also wasn’t addressed by the lawsuit.
Whether individuals should take up a class action lawsuit every time packaging is misleading, I don’t know. I do know consumers must read labels and be discerning.
And I know I was right about Breyers and the patronizing run-around they gave me when I asked a couple of questions.
I buy Tillamook now instead.
~~~~~~~
Original article follows:
I’ve bought Breyers for years because it’s been the best for a long time. I believe they were the first company to have a “natural” line of ice creams, which I needed for my kids, who were sensitive to food coloring, and I definitely didn’t want any more high fructose corn syrup.
Thanks for reading The Writing Hobbit! This post is public so feel free to share it.
When they stopped using actual vanilla beans and went to the “natural vanilla flavor” I wasn’t thrilled but knew that vanilla had gotten quite expensive due to civil war in Madagascar, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I assumed other companies who produced a natural vanilla bean flavor would do the same thing (which turns out not to be true). Plus I could always make my own vanilla ice cream with real vanilla extract, as that’s not very hard to do. See the recipe here.
However, a few months ago when I picked up the Breyers natural vanilla I looked at the ingredient label. I wish I had done that sooner. Back in the day I read food labels pretty religiously in the desire to avoid whatever I was supposed to be avoiding in whatever diet I was then trying to improve my well-being. Or I was reading labels because of my children’s sensitivities.
So, there’s definitely a change on the label.
The product at the store lists 6 ingredients, including skim milk and water. This despite the fact that the front of the carton states there is only cream, sugar, salt and vanilla in the product, as it’s the “natural” version, so this is deliberately misleading. And, when I went online to the company’s site, the natural vanilla bean ice cream ingredients listed there do not include the water and skim milk that I saw listed on the packaging in the store!
If you order their natural vanilla ice cream online, you won’t know that it also includes water and skim milk, because those ingredients are not listed on the website. Obviously, there is no reason there could not be other ingredients in other ice creams they make which they have not bothered to list on the website.
I am certain the product did not contain skim milk and water in the past because I’ve bought it for so long and the ingredient list is simple. I contacted the company, and received a series of emails that got more ludicrous as they went. I’ll share those below for your enjoyment but the summary is this. They stated that the water was now listed as an ingredient because they want to be more transparent about the ingredients, while stating that the ice cream had not changed. This response referred to their chocolate ice cream, which is not what I asked about. So why is water listed as an ingredient at all? They said water is an ingredient in the liquid cane sugar they use, and I got a nice paragraph explaining why water was part of the corn syrup they use in their ice creams.
Except that corn syrup isn’t an ingredient in their natural vanilla.
So I never got an answer about skim milk in the ice cream, nor did I get an answer on the discrepancy between store packaging and website information.
That was enough for me. If I’m buying your product and asking a question, don’t act like I’m stupid. If you can’t make any sense when explaining ingredients to me, I won’t buy your ice cream.
Happily, I can recommend an alternative: Tillamook natural vanilla is delicious and does not have skim milk in it nor water. It does have vanilla beans in it, I got a reasonable explanation of what’s in the ice cream, plus a confirmation that the vanilla in it is real vanilla, plus a coupon for a free container of their ice cream. Nice. That wasn’t something I ever got from Breyers.
I don’t read labels all the time like I used to, but I will be more proactive on this going forward.
Like they say, buyer beware.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Below are the actual email responses I received over the course of my attempts to receive answers to my questions.
First on Friday, April 5, 2024, with my response:
Hello! Thanks so much for your reply!
As I mentioned in my initial contact, I accidentally sent the incorrect photo and then the customer service app would not allow me to delete it and add the correct one.
So here's the images of listed ingredients for your natural vanilla in store at Kroger. I've provided both front and back.
In addition I provided the ingredient list from your website for the natural vanilla flavor. On [sic] addition I provided a screen shot of your website stating the ingredients for natural vanilla.
There is a discrepancy between your website and the package in Kroger which I saw and photographed both front and back.
The product on the shelf states that additional ingredients in natural vanilla ice cream include skim milk and water. But your website doesn't mention skim milk or water. Why is that?
My additional question is what the purpose is of water as an ice cream ingredient? Your vanilla (and other ice creams) didn't previously include water. I've bought [B]reyers for 30 years and read labels so I know.
I look forward to hearing from you with an explanation of the purpose of water in ice cream and why the natural vanilla in store has additional ingredients of low value, when your website doesn't list them.
Thank you for reaching out to us at Breyers. Thank you for providing images of the ice cream containers.
The images you have provided are for two different variants of Vanilla ice cream we have available; one is French Vanilla which is Gluten Free and Natural Vanilla Ice Cream.
Due to being two different products their formulations will be different to one another. The ice cream that has the milk, cream, sugar and water is the Natural Vanilla Ice cream while the other is the Gluten Free.
You may also visit Smartlabel.org for any additional information on the ingredients and formulations on our products.
Thank you again for reaching out to us at Breyers. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us again if there is anything else we can assist you with.
We spoke with our Research and Development team and they explained that while we did update our label to include water, it is not a change in the formulation of the product. It is still the same Breyers Chocolate Ice Cream! We just wanted to make sure that everything is as accurate and transparent as possible in how we talk about our ingredients.
Please let us know if we can help with anything else!
Sincerely,
Breyers Consumer Services
And finally, this on May 30 (note a delay of more than 6 weeks):
Dear Jenny,
Thank you for responding to Breyers with that additional information.
The addition of Water to our label was not a formula change but was a result of our regular reviews of our labels to be as transparent and accurate as possible. Water was included in the formula as it is included in our liquid cane sugar and liquid fructose ingredients.
The term "natural flavor" in the ingredient list refers to a blend of natural flavors, one of which may be pure vanilla extract.
For more information on Breyer's products visit Smartlabel. Information on natural flavoring would be found in the "Ingredients" tab.
Corn Syrup is a common sweetener made from corn and is used with sugar to add body and control the texture and sweetness of our ice cream. The corn syrup that we use is less than half as sweet as cane or beet sugar. When corn syrup is used in our ice cream, it provides a softer texture and prevents the crystallization of sugar.
Any product that contains corn syrup will have it included on the ingredient list.
From time to time, we may change the formulations of our products. These changes are based on several factors including the recommendations and feedback from our consumers. The intent of these changes is to continually improve our products as well as providing the best quality products possible
We are sorry you were disappointed, and we will certainly report your comments to the brand.
Please let us know if we can help with anything else.
Sincerely,
Breyers Consumer Services
Thanks for reading The Writing Hobbit! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
I’m with you on switching, I don’t by ice cream often, but in the past I bought the Bryers Vanilla because I fell in love with the vanilla taste of the REAL vanilla beans from Madagascar. That’s not even an option anymore and Bryers natural vanilla doesn’t taste the same as it once did.
I’m done with Bryers and I’ll explore other options that have real vanilla beans in it.
I’m with you on switching, I don’t by ice cream often, but in the past I bought the Bryers Vanilla because I fell in love with the vanilla taste of the REAL vanilla beans from Madagascar. That’s not even an option anymore and Bryers natural vanilla doesn’t taste the same as it once did.
I’m done with Bryers and I’ll explore other options that have real vanilla beans in it.