Breyers Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

If you were to take a carton of Breyers Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream from the freezer aisle and turn it to inspect the ingredients list on the side of the carton, you might be surprised at what you see, or rather what you don’t see.

“The front label’s green font statement of ‘Mint Chocolate Chip,’ description as ‘Cool mint ice cream,’ absence of qualifying terms such as ‘flavored,’ and two mint leaves tells consumers the Product will get its mint taste from mint ingredients and contain a non-negligible amount of mint ingredients,” states a class-action lawsuit filed against Breyers parent company Unilever last month.

“However, the ingredient list on the side panel does not identify any mint ingredients.”

Instead, it lists, among other ingredients, “Natural Flavor.”

To the extent the Product may taste like mint, this is from “Natural Flavor,” a synthesized blend of compounds, enhancers, solvents and additives, combined in a laboratory, with little if any connection to mint ingredients. … By omitting “flavored” from the front label, consumers are not told that the taste is not from mint ingredients.

As such, the lawsuit alleges, Unilever misrepresents the attributes of the ice cream.

Unilever did not respond to a request for comment.

Of note, the lawyer representing the named plaintiff is the same lawyer who has filed more than a hundred lawsuits challenging the amount of real vanilla in various products (including Breyers Natural Vanilla ice cream in a case that remains pending), earning him the nickname the “Vanilla Vigilante.” Is Spencer Sheehan’s next move to create a Mint Militia? We’ll keep tabs and let you know whether this becomes the next class-action trend.

In the meantime, consumers need to remember to check the ingredients list and not rely solely on the marketing on the front label when making purchasing decisions, especially if the source of a particular flavor is a dealbreaker.

Find more of our coverage on natural flavor here.