Ahmedabad: Frozen desserts, which look and taste like ice cream but are made out of vegetable fat, have silently grabbed a 40% share in India's 1,800-crore organised ice-cream market without most consumers realizing they are not ice cream.
Led by Hindustan Unilever's Kwality Walls, Vadilal, Lazza Ice Creams and Cream Bell, frozen desserts- served in identical cups, cones and sticks as ice cream-have found a strong foothold in the country in less than two decades since Kwality Walls introduced them.
But food authority officials and original ice-cream makers such as Amul and Mother Dairy feel these companies are misleading consumers by masquerading frozen dessert as ice cream. While real ice cream is made with milk fat, frozen dessert is made with vegetable fat, which is almost 80% cheaper.
"The clandestine manner in which the labelling (of frozen desserts) is done and the way they are marketed in television commercials are a matter of concern," says H G Koshiya, commissioner of Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration.
He says the state authority plans to bring the issue to the notice of the Central Advisory Committee of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. "Let consumers know what frozen dessert is all about and then if they consume it, it is a matter of choice," Koshiya says.
ICE CRIME
Ice-cream makers such as Amul and Mother Dairy that use only dairy fat say frozen dessert makers have been misleading consumers by passing them on as ice cream.
"Consumers have been eating frozen desserts presuming them to be ice creams," says Munish Soni, head (dairy product division) at Mother Dairy, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board.
Amul, the category leader in ice creams with 40% market share, says companies are misleading consumers by not mentioning upfront they are frozen desserts and pricing them as much as ice cream despite lower costs.
"Consumers are fooled into buying frozen desserts. It is a lookalike category. Most brands mention frozen desserts in small letters and push the category instead of advertising it as dessert," says R S Sodhi, managing director of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, which owns Amul brand. He says dairy fat costs 300/kg, while vegetable fat is 50-60 a kilo. "Frozen desserts play with huge margins and cheat consumers."
Consumer rights activist Pritee Shah says frozen dessert is masquerading itself as ice cream. "They must mention frozen dessert upfront in their advertisements and the products in lieu of which it amounts to cheating the consumer," says Shah, who is the chief general manager at Ahmedabad-based consumer group Consumer Education and Research Centre.
Led by Hindustan Unilever's Kwality Walls, Vadilal, Lazza Ice Creams and Cream Bell, frozen desserts- served in identical cups, cones and sticks as ice cream-have found a strong foothold in the country in less than two decades since Kwality Walls introduced them.
But food authority officials and original ice-cream makers such as Amul and Mother Dairy feel these companies are misleading consumers by masquerading frozen dessert as ice cream. While real ice cream is made with milk fat, frozen dessert is made with vegetable fat, which is almost 80% cheaper.
"The clandestine manner in which the labelling (of frozen desserts) is done and the way they are marketed in television commercials are a matter of concern," says H G Koshiya, commissioner of Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration.
He says the state authority plans to bring the issue to the notice of the Central Advisory Committee of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. "Let consumers know what frozen dessert is all about and then if they consume it, it is a matter of choice," Koshiya says.
ICE CRIME
Ice-cream makers such as Amul and Mother Dairy that use only dairy fat say frozen dessert makers have been misleading consumers by passing them on as ice cream.
"Consumers have been eating frozen desserts presuming them to be ice creams," says Munish Soni, head (dairy product division) at Mother Dairy, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board.
Amul, the category leader in ice creams with 40% market share, says companies are misleading consumers by not mentioning upfront they are frozen desserts and pricing them as much as ice cream despite lower costs.
"Consumers are fooled into buying frozen desserts. It is a lookalike category. Most brands mention frozen desserts in small letters and push the category instead of advertising it as dessert," says R S Sodhi, managing director of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, which owns Amul brand. He says dairy fat costs 300/kg, while vegetable fat is 50-60 a kilo. "Frozen desserts play with huge margins and cheat consumers."
Consumer rights activist Pritee Shah says frozen dessert is masquerading itself as ice cream. "They must mention frozen dessert upfront in their advertisements and the products in lieu of which it amounts to cheating the consumer," says Shah, who is the chief general manager at Ahmedabad-based consumer group Consumer Education and Research Centre.
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