No. 1 in hot search, Zhong Xuegao responded!

Yesterday at noon,

@钟薛高 issued a statement,

Ranked first on the trending search list!

@钟薛高 said in a statement:

All our ice cream products are produced legally and in compliance with the national standard GB/T 31119-2014 "Frozen Beverage Ice Cream" and are shipped out after passing the inspection.

The main ingredients of Zhong Xue Gao Sea Salt Coconut Ice Cream are milk (35.8%), cream (19.2%), coconut milk (11.2%), sweetened condensed milk (7.4%), whole milk powder (6.0%), etc. The protein content of the product is 6.3g/100g, and the solid content is about 40%, which is higher than the national standard GB/T 31119-2014 "Frozen Beverage Ice Cream" which requires the protein content of light ice cream to be ≥0.8g/100g and the solid content to be ≥20%.

As for carrageenan, which is of concern to consumers, it comes from red algae and is widely used in ice cream, popsicles and drinks. A proper amount of carrageenan helps the milk protein in popsicles to maintain a relatively stable state. The average amount of carrageenan added to each 78g Zhong Xue Gao Sea Salt Coconut Popsicle is about 0.032g, which complies with the national standard GB 2760-2014 "National Food Safety Standard for the Use of Food Additives", which stipulates that carrageenan can be added to frozen drinks "according to production needs".

@钟薛高 also stated in the statement:

It is not scientific to judge the quality of ice cream by baking, drying or heating it.

Previous reports

After "not melting under the sun", Zhong Xuegao was exposed to "not melting by burning"

On the 5th, a video of a netizen using a lighter to light a Zhong Xue Gao ice cream that seemed to fail to melt attracted attention again. In response, the staff of the Publicity Department of the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation responded that they had paid attention to the matter and informed the relevant business offices.

The staff at Zhong Xue Gao’s customer service hotline said that it usually melts in 3-5 minutes at room temperature, and “this is the first time we have heard of a situation where it cannot be melted.” The issue has been recorded and a specialist will respond soon.

Previously, a netizen posted that a sea salt-flavored ice cream from Zhong Xue Gao had not completely melted after being left at room temperature of 31°C for nearly an hour. For a time, the fact that the ice cream would not melt sparked discussion among many netizens.

On July 2, @钟薛高 responded that in order to maintain the good flavor and shape of the product during the shelf life, the product only uses a very small amount of food emulsifiers and thickeners, which are added in strict accordance with relevant national standards and can be consumed with confidence.

The more additives, the harder it is to melt?

According to a report by Shanghai Online Rumor Refutation on June 30, two different flavors of ice cream from Zhong Xue Gao were placed at 27°C for an experiment. Both ice creams began to melt quickly. The milk flavored one was basically melted in less than half an hour; the other sea salt coconut flavored ice cream was basically melted after 40 minutes. However, after melting, both ice creams turned into a viscous milky substance instead of a watery substance.

Ruan Guangfeng, a master of nutrition and food safety and an expert member of the China Internet Joint Rumor Refutation Platform, pointed out that the statement that "the more additives, the harder it is to melt" is inaccurate. The ingredient list of these two ice creams shows that the majority of them are milk, cream, whole milk powder, sweetened condensed milk, coconut milk, and ice egg yolks. The solid content is high, so it is not surprising that they are thicker after melting.

Ingredients such as emulsifiers, thickeners, stabilizers, etc. are indeed related to increasing the melting resistance of cold drinks, but more is not necessarily better. Too many additives will destroy the quality of cold drinks.

"A study analyzed the melting resistance of ice cream with different amounts of emulsifiers and stabilizers added. The concentrations of stabilizers added were 0.40%, 0.45% and 0.50%, respectively. The results showed that when the addition amount was 0.45%, the ice cream had the best melting resistance."

Source: China Youth Daily (ID: zqbcyol, compiled by Zhang Xiaosong) from @Zhong Xuegao, China News Weekly, Shanghai Online Rumor Refutation, etc.