Enlightened Class Action Says Ice Cream Is Really ‘Ice Milk’

A recent class action alleges that Enlightened The Good-For-You Ice Cream cannot actually be classified as “ice cream” and instead is “ice milk.”

Until the 1990s, ice cream products had strict requirements regarding key dairy ingredients, non-ingredients such as texture, functional properties such as body, and a minimum percentage of milkfat.

If products failed to meet the standards of 10 percent milkfat, they were to be classified as “ice milk.”

Since the 1990s, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made changes to regulations which allow modified versions of standardized foods as long as they have an express nutrient content claim such as “reduced fat.”

According to the Enlightened ice cream class action, changes to the composition and structure of standardized foods are allowed under these regulations, but should be the minimum changes necessary to qualify for the nutrient content claim while also maintaining a similar performance to the original food item.

For ice cream, “the most significant challenge” allegedly comes from the replacement of milkfat in ice cream.

The Enlightened ice cream class action says that milkfat is a defining ingredient that gives ice cream the characteristics that most people expect out of the frozen dessert.

In addition to its flavor and richness, milkfat reportedly inhibits the creation of large ice crystals – producing “desirable melting properties.”

According to the Enlightened ice cream class action brought by plaintiff Romel Hightower, Enlightened ice cream products replace milkfat with maltodextrin, a class of corn starch ingredients.

Maltodextrin suppliers allegedly promote the attributes of the product as a milkfat replacer, claiming that ice cream “can be made low-fat or no-fat by reducing or replacing the milk fat.”

“The body and creamy texture of the ice cream will be preserved, along with a clean taste, and little or no impact on sweetness. Additionally, the freezing point is not affected, and it helps to control large ice crystal formation,” suppliers reportedly claim.

However, Hightower argues that representations of Enlightened products as “low fat ice cream” are false, misleading, and deceptive because the products cannot be classified as ice cream.

Characterizing ingredients in ice cream are allegedly required to be derived from dairy sources, a requirement that Enlightened products allegedly fail to meet.

“By using ingredients to simulate the effects of fat in ice cream, which are derived from a non-dairy source (vegetables), the fundamental dairy character of the food is changed such that reasonable consumers receive a product that does not conform to their expectations,” Hightower argues in his Enlightened ice cream class action lawsuit.

Hightower seeks to represent a Class of consumers who purchased the Enlightened ice cream products. He also seeks to represent a Class of the same consumers from New York.

The Enlightened ice cream class action lawsuit seeks treble damages, punitive damages, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.

Hightower and the proposed Class are represented by Spencer Sheehan of Sheehan & Associates PC and Joshua Levin-Epstein of Levin-Epstein & Associates PC.

The Enlightened Ice Cream Class Action Lawsuit is Hightower v. Beyond Better Foods LLC, Case No. 1:19-cv-00004, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.