What do you think would happen if you left an ice cream sandwich outside on a hot, sunny day for over an hour? It seems as if the ice cream sandwich would melt, correct? Disturbingly enough, this is not the case for Walmart’s Great Value Vanilla Flavored Ice Cream Sandwiches. Christie Watson, a mother, was the one who initially discovered this shocking truth. Her son left a Walmart ice cream sandwich on the patio, and despite the fact that it was sitting there for hours on end, it never did fully melt.
Here is a video of one man’s small experiment, demonstrating the shocking outcome of leaving one of Walmart’s ice cream sandwiches outside in the sun for an extended period of time.
In regards to their ice cream sandwiches, a Walmart spokesperson released the following statement: “Great Value ice cream sandwiches melt. Ice cream melts based on the ingredients including cream. Ice cream with more cream will generally melt at a slower rate, which is the case with our Great Value ice cream sandwiches.”
So why exactly is it that this sandwich barely melted? Despite all of the worried consumers of these ice cream sandwiches, many articles declare that this behavior is not so abnormal. The rate at which ice cream melts depends largely upon the ingredients that it contains. Guar gum, a polysaccharide used in many foods, stabilizes thawing and becomes thicker in combination with water. In the ice cream sandwich, this ingredient is combined with calcium sulfate, which traps moisture. It seems that these ingredients are combined merely for the benefit of the eater, preventing a messy eating experience.
One article states the following: “There are no scary chemicals at work here and no secret preservatives that will give you cancer. Walmart’s ice cream sandwiches make use of very simple, common food science and chemistry to keep your hands from getting sticky. That’s it.”
The FDA does indeed state that ice cream sandwiches containing similar ingredients (corn syrup and “gums”) are safe to eat.
It is also important to note that ice cream sandwiches are intentionally made differently than regular ice cream out of a container. Ice cream sandwiches typically contain thicker and creamier ice cream, making them both easier to produce and easier to eat.
So, is it frightening that Walmart’s ice cream sandwiches are so slow to melt? Or is it just a harmless example of chemistry at work? I suppose there are different opinions.
I thought that this was a very interesting blog. I think it makes sense that ice cream sandwiches would have to be made with a heavier and denser ice cream than the ice cream in containers. There needs to be something that helps the sandwich stay together. I think this is an example of people worrying that everything causes cancer instead of stepping back and looking at why it could actually be happening. I think that society today is too worried about things that could cause cancer and that seems to always be the first conclusion. Hopefully there will someday be a day where we will not have to worry about cancer as much with the help of science.
Regardless of the “not so harmful” reasons as to why some ice-cream doesn’t melt, I’m not so sure I could get myself to eat it. However, you mentioned that the ingredients that some ice-cream brands put into their ice-cream are approved by the FDA and safe to eat. However, I did some research on this, because I just love ice-cream way too much to not know the truth. What I discovered is that there are indeed some ingredients that are harmful to humans, such as diethyl glycol which is used in paint thinner. Maybe that ingredient has nothing to do with the lack of melting that the ice-cream does. However, maybe all of us should be more worried about ice-cream than we originally thought.
http://www.naturalnews.com/023849_ice_cream_chemicals_health.html