Consumer Watch | Ice Cream vs. Light Ice Cream | ABC30 Fresno

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By ABC30

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Consumer Watch Included ... Ben and Jerry's Phish Food, Breyers Butter Pecan, and Dreyer's Mint Chocolate Chip.

Consumer Reports also evaluated Haagen-Dazs Coffee Ice Cream and Haagen-Dazs Five, its new, reduced-fat counterpart.

Consumer Reports Erin Gudeux said, "Technically, the Haagen-Dazs Five is not a light ice cream because in order to qualify for that label, it has to have a third fewer calories or half the fat of the full-fat version. But it does have a third less fat than the regular Haagen-Dazs."

As for the taste ... Testers were impressed. Haagen-Dazs Five is even denser and creamier than the regular version. And the three light ice creams impressed testers as well.

"They weren't exactly the same as the regular version, but the testers said all three were quite tasty and flavorful," said Gudeux.

If you're trying to count calories Consumer Reports says your two best light bets are Breyers and Dreyer's.

Dreyer's Slow Churned Mint Chocolate Chip was minty with lots of delicious chocolate chips.

While it was a little gummy, overall, it was still very good. And the Breyers light ice cream was even better.

"The Breyers Smooth and Dreamy Butter Pecan is sweeter and tastes more buttery than the regular version," said Gudeux.

Sweeter yet ... Both these ice creams cost less than half as much as the Haagen Dazs and Ben and Jerry's.

Consumer Reports found a few discrepancies with the term "light" ice cream. Among them, testers found a difference of as much as 90-calories per serving.

So it's a good idea to check the nutritional information label.