
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 13, 1991                   TAG: 9103130077
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

WHAT'S THE SCOOP ON LOW-FAT ICE CREAM?

You're at a park or a beach or sitting in your office on a sunny day and you need, you really need, an ice cream cone. Luscious, rich, creamy ice cream. The food that's a reward.

If your waistline says watch out and your cholesterol count says forget it, how about a scoop or two of low-fat ice cream to give your senses and psyche the same satisfaction?

Sorry, it's illegal.

Ice milk or frozen dessert, yes. Low or non-fat ice cream, no. Those are the federal rules.

But ice cream manufacturers and an aggressive consumer organization say that in this age of low-fat everything, it's time the Food and Drug Administration changed the rules.

Many years ago, in an effort to protect the public from fraud by food manufacturers the FDA established specific recipes for hundreds of edibles.

Among them was ice cream. The name meant at least 10 percent butterfat was in the product. "Ice milk" was synonymous with 2 percent to 7 percent butterfat.

It was a time before nutrition labeling, when the name told the whole story and what made ice cream creamy was fat.

As years passed, people wanted less fat in their diets and the ice cream industry sought to satisfy.

Companies enhanced their ice milk with additives that resembled the creaminess of butterfat, but they were stuck with the unappealing name. The solution was to print ice milk in tiny letters on the carton or call the product frozen dessert.

Then in 1989, Kraft General Foods Inc. took a bold step and came out with Sealtest Free Nonfat Ice Cream.

Marketing permits were granted by more than 20 states, but the federal rules defining ice cream as 10 percent butterfat made other states reluctant to allow sales.

Linda Eatherton, manager of communications for Kraft, said the company voluntarily changed the name to Sealtest Free Nonfat Frozen Dessert to hasten its entry on the market, but petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to change its rules.

According to Ellen Haas, executive director of Public Voice for Food and Health Policy, "current standards discriminate against low fat products."

Her organization, which also has petitioned the FDA, points out that on the one hand the government advocates cutting fat from one's diet, but on the other refuses to allow manufacturers to use a more descriptive, more appealing name to draw customers to their less fatty product.

The petitions before FDA seek to change ice milk to "reduced fat ice cream" and to establish new standards for products called "low-fat ice cream" and "non-fat ice cream."

But first, the FDA wants a few questions answered.

Should non-fat be anything less than 0.5 percent milkfat, as allowed for non-fat yogurt? Should low-fat be anything up to 2 percent milkfat? What about reduced fat?

The FDA also points out that the fat in question is milkfat. what about the fat that chocolate, butterscotch and nuts add? Can you still call one of those products low-fat?

by CNB