Clean ingredients, healthy options dominate in frozen desserts
Ice cream makers are creating new pint lines with lower calories and sugar. Meanwhile, producers of frozen novelties and puddings focus on portion control, packaging and high-quality ingredients.
Consumers love their ice cream and other frozen and refrigerated treats and prefer them in their most natural forms. There is still a strong desire to eat healthy, but for many, not if it means giving up the indulgence factor. Several ice cream brands have taken on this challenge, creating lines that cut back on calories and sugar but with the mouthfeel consumers expect from ice cream.
Chicago-based Mintel found that despite consumers’ concerns over health many still treat themselves to frozen desserts. According to Mintel, 11% of U.S. consumers report cutting back on ice cream or frozen treat consumption due to health concerns. And 10% say they actively avoid healthy versions because ice cream is meant to be a treat. More than 27% of ice cream buyers agree that, even though they find these treats unhealthy, they buy them anyway.