Recently, a netizen posted that a sea salt-flavored ice cream from Zhongxue Gao still did not completely melt after being left at room temperature of 31°C for nearly an hour. This incident has been on the hot search list for two consecutive days. This non-melting ice cream has been causing netizens to speculate whether it is a preservative or coagulant ?
Pictures from Weibo
Zhong Xuegao responded in an emergency clarification on the evening of July 2, saying that the product only uses a very small amount of food emulsifying thickener ( carrageenan ), so that consumers can eat it with confidence. Is carrageenan a safe additive? Netizens obviously didn't buy this response, and it all started with Zhong Xuegao's road to high prices.
Ice cream is actually the popsicle we loved to eat since childhood. When we were young, popsicles were generally cheap products priced at 1-2 yuan. In the past ten years, foreign brands such as Haagen-Dazs , Magnum , DQ and other foreign brands have opened up the high-end market for ice cream. . In 2018, Zhong Xuegao entered the ice cream consumer goods track by relying on the Internet. But Zhong Xuegao's road to high-end is also full of controversies, especially price disputes. Zhong Xuegao is the first Chinese company in China to sell ice cream at a price of 60 yuan a pop. The overwhelming publicity has allowed Zhong Xuegao to capture a group of high-end users, but it has also caused complaints from many consumers: "Isn't it just one ice cream? Why sell it for 60 yuan?"
From a business perspective, one ice cream sells for 60 yuan. 60 is not terrible. After all, the main users of high-priced ice cream are not ordinary people, but wealthy people with stronger spending power. An interview video of Lin Sheng, the founder of Zhong Xuegao, accepted by iAsk People directly put the doubts of netizens on the table: Do you like the price of ?
For Zhong Xuegao, this kind of high price controversy can also better establish its high-end brand image. The other meaning of founder Lin Sheng's words is: "Don't buy for poor people." Zhong Xuegao's goal is to snatch The market for high-end ice creams such as Haagen-Dazs and Magnum. Just imagine, if a Zhong Xuegao is placed in the freezer of a supermarket with a price tag of 20 yuan each, how many ordinary consumers will buy it?
The words of an Internet practitioner as an ice cream consumer are representative: There is no difference in raw material cost between these dozens of Zhong Xuegao ice creams and the 2.5 yuan Yili bitter coffee ice cream, and the taste is even worse. An ice cream cone like Zhong Xuegao has no ability to make money from the boss, but for beating the workers, we are all paying for the IQ tax.
Picture source Futu Niuniu
In fact, carrageenan is not the key point. With these controversies, this non-melting incident has also been criticized by netizens. The main additive here that can keep the ice cream from deforming is carrageenan .
Scientifically speaking, carrageenan is a mucopolysaccharide extracted from the cell wall of red algae . It has been widely used in the food field, mainly in the production of cold drinks, candies, jelly, dairy products, bread, etc. It is even used in health foods. Carrageenan has good gel properties, low molding temperature, easily available raw materials, clear and transparent colloid, and good light transmittance. It is often used in the production of jelly.
In fact, it is a common phenomenon to add carrageenan to ice cream.
The author of Zero State first looked at Zhong Xuegao’s ingredient list and found that the carrageenan mentioned in the question was indeed on the ingredient list. Specifically, it includes mono and diglyceryl fatty acid esters, sodium alginate , locust bean gum , carrageenan, guar gum .
The picture comes from the back of Zhong Xuegao’s product
The ingredient list of imported chocolate Menglong ice cream also contains carrageenan additives similar to Zhong Xuegao.
The picture comes from the back of Menglong ice cream product
In this regard, FMCG researcher Wen Xian told Zero State LT (ID: LingTai_LT) that Zhongxuegao ice cream is in a melted state after being placed at 31°C for 1 hour. It is just ice cream. After melting, food thickeners such as carrageenan can maintain the viscosity and look like it has not melted. This is not only the case with Zhong Xuegao’s ice cream, but also with Menglong and even Yili Mengniu products. Zhong Xue Gaoneng caused such a big controversy because consumers were dissatisfied with its expensive price.
After inquiry, it was found that carrageenan and guar gum both belong to 5.6 food additives and food nutritional fortifiers specified in the national standard. It seems that carrageenan does not pose a health threat.
This increasingly expensive ice cream has only increased in price, but isn’t it of higher quality?
Picture from Zhong Xue Gaoguan Weibo
Zhong Xue Gao has become the representative brand of the term "Ice Cream Assassin" due to its high price. According to Tianyancha data, Zhongxuegao’s main company Zhongxuegao Food (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. has received more than 100 million yuan in financing since its establishment, and the latest Series A investment reached 200 million yuan.
With the support of capital, Zhong Xuegao can naturally invest more in advertising and marketing. There are a large number of positive comments about Zhong Xuegao on social platforms such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu. Zhong Xuegao also invited entertainment stars to be brand spokespersons to pave the way for his internet celebrity ice cream.
A food industry analyst said in an interview with Hexun that in China's ice cream industry, Zhong Xuegao is still only at the high end in terms of price, and does not actually match the brand tonality, quality, service system, scene, customer stickiness, etc. . So how can we make Chinese ice cream truly high-end in the future? This is also a question that the entire industry must consider.
This time, carrageenan is not the issue of controversy. How should domestic ice cream develop after the epidemic? How high-end Zhong Xuegao can get rid of the impression of "IQ tax" is more critical.
