Breyer’s Ice Cream, the Perfect Rocky Road etc.
For example one of the new
Dessert for a hot Sunny Day!!!
By Bineta Diouf
Ice Cream Parlor!
Summer would be meaningless without the perfect
dessert of a creamy and yummy ice cream cone! Ice
cream on a hot summer day really hits the spot! It is
a treat for all. Who doesn’t enjoy going out with
friends to an ice cream parlor to make perfect
sundaes, but the real question is which brand of Ice
Cream is the healthiest?  
One sure contender is Breyers Ice Cream. Breyers is
a brand of frozen confection made from all-natural
ingredients derived from natural sources. It is a
premium ice cream brand with pure natural
ingredients which is very satisfying to the taste buds
for people of all ages. Breyers was the first brand of
ice cream that introduced a low-fat ice cream with
only half the fat of previous products. This is a good
alternative to the regular ice cream that is high in
calories. Even though it is healthier, the low-fat ice
cream has a great taste, very affordable, and
delectable. They are very pleasing to the palate and
do not have an after taste like many low calorie
items do.  and wagon to deliver ice cream all around the city
 
Why Breyers Ice Cream?
 
Breyers is a very pure and flavorful ice cream brand
that uses all natural ingredients: cream, sugar, milk,
and natural flavors. When it comes to fantastic
natural flavors no other Ice Cream brand can beat
what Breyers has to offer. This brand of ice cream
has seemingly endless range of flavors that includes
the obvious: chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, and
the mixtures like chocolate chip, cookie dough,
flavors that Breyers introduce is the Waffle Cone
Overload; it is a natural vanilla frozen dairy dessert
with caramel swirl and fudge-covered waffle cone
pieces. Breyer had also launched a line of Organic
Ice Cream flavors in Vanilla Bean, Chocolate,
Coffe, and Vanilla Fudge Swirl. The vice president
of marketing for Unilever Ice Cream, Dan Hammer
said: “The introduction of Breyers Organic Ice
Cream demonstrates our continued commitment to
offer our customers the widest variety of options to
fit their ever-changing needs and lifestyles.”
How did this famous brand of ice cream start?
William A. Breyer
The Breyers Company is the oldest ice cream
producer in the United States. In 1866, “after the
recovery of the American economic from the Civil
War,” William A. Breyer of Philadelphia decided to
create a mixture called “ice cream”. At first, he was
unable to rent a store to sell his ice cream, so he
started using his kitchen in his home to sell his ice
cream. His neighbors and people living in the
nearby community started purchasing his ice cream.
As the reputation of his product grew, he added
different flavors and ingredients to boost his
product lines. Later on he started using his horse
of Philadelphia. By the year of 1882, Breyer was
able to open a retail store on Frankford Avenue in
Philadelphia.
The more the public tasted the ice cream, the more
they wanted it. “People from every neighborhood in
the city were soon traveling to Breyer's store on
Frankford Avenue to buy ice cream”. The ice cream
demands kept on increasing in the daily bases. After
William A. Breyer passed away, his son Henry
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Breyer inherited the business. As a personal
guarantee, Henry stated that Breyers use the highest
quality, all natural ingredients. He added the well-
known "Pledge of Purity" to every package of
Breyers Ice Cream. Today, the pledge is reworded
to include only the ice cream portions of the
product, so that the non-natural ingredients in some
of the flavor mixtures are excluded from the pledge.
Henry designed the logo of the ice cream as a green
leaf which represents a briar bush leaf.
Breyer’s Horse and Wagon to Deliver the Ice Cream
In 1918, Breyers was producing more than a million
gallons of ice cream each year, and shipping it to
New York City and Staten Island. In 1993, Breyers
joined Good Humor to form one big company
called the “Good Humor-Breyers Ice Cream
Company”. They became really powerful and
offered a wide variety of products such as Good
Humor, Breyers, Popsicle, Klondike, and Sealtest.
In late 1920s the company was incorporated into the
National Dairy Products Corporation (NDPC), and
Breyers was selling more ice cream than any other
company.
In 1926, the Breyer family sold the business to the
National Dairy Products, and then Kraft bought the
business in 1952. Two years later, Unilever, a
multinational corporation that owns consumer
product brands in foods and beverages acquired
Kraft's ice-cream brands, “Unilever added Kraft to a
line of consumer products that includes Vaseline,
Wisk laundry detergent, Lipton tea, and Elizabeth
Arden cosmetics”. In 1995, a proud chapter of West
Philadelphia history was over, leaving 240 people
unemployed, according to the morning daily
newspaper, The Philadelphia Inquirer. “The Breyers
ice cream plant in West Philadelphia was shut
down, ending 71 years of production at the building
and a 129-year presence in the city where William
A. Breyer hand-churned his first batch of ice
cream.” Unilever announced that it was shutting
down its Philadelphia operation.  It was emotional
for everybody but especially Breyers’ workers that
left the company they grow up to know as “second
home”. The company officials told the employees
that the closure was definite and non negotiable;
“the plant was antiquated, expensive to operate, and
would cost $15 million to $18 million to modernize;
and they just couldn't see putting that money into
it”.
Impact on Society
Today Unilever (Breyer's & Good Humor) is a
respected name among many companies.  They are
very well known and their quality product is rated
very high in the nation among ice cream companies.
They keep launching new lines such as the Fat Free,
Sugar Free, and the Pure Fruit Bar that is a good
source of the antioxidant vitamin C. Recently the
company decided to add a fifth natural ingredient
called “Tara Gum” to their four well-known
ingredients: milk, cream, sugar, and natural flavors.
Tara gum is used to ensure the creamiest ice cream
that Breyers can make. It is labeled as a natural
substance. The substance is from the Tara tree, a
plant found in South America and Africa. Breyers
uses it because it helps the ice cream keep its
creamy texture for a longer period of time and gives
it an exceptional taste. Studies found that “Tara
Gum” is a safe substance for human consumption. 
New Zealand and Australia Food Standards
approved it as did the World Health Organization. 
“The ice cream levels were not nearly high enough
to worry about the bad effects of higher levels of
Tara gum ingested”. 
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Tara Gum, the fifth ingredient of Breyers Ice Cream
In 2006, Unilever decided to use a Genetically-
Modified Fish "Antifreeze" Protein in some of their
brands including Breyers, Ben and Jerry's, and
Klondike. This new substance makes a creamier
texture and increases the smoothness of the Ice
Cream.  Both the Breyer's Light Double
Churned and the Extra Creamy Chocolate Ice
Cream contain the "antifreeze" proteins. These fish
blood protein substances were from the blood of the
ocean pout found in North Atlantic; they help to
prevent the formation of ice in the water. The
protein is used to protect fish, frogs and other
amphibians. Unilever’s products that have the “Ice
Structuring Protein” (ISP) contain a level of .01%
of the finished substance volume. The FDA
approved the using of GM ISPs in the ice cream
products. “Incredibly, the U.S. has no regulation
requiring labeling of GM products or ingredients in
human foods.”
Fish Protein in the Breyers Ice Cream
In 2006' Professor Cummins stated that the allergy
test results for fish were not at all concrete.  He said
that it is not specific enough and more general
testing should be done. It seems that the reason
these fish proteins are included is to lower costs for
the company. Lots of consumers are not aware of
this additive and what it really is, but it is difficult
to taste the difference so profits remain high.
Conclusion
Breyers Ice Cream is a very popular brand in the ice
cream industry due to its exceptional good taste. In
a dish or on a cone, Breyers ice cream will always
stand out. No other brand of Ice Cream can top the
new ice cream flavors that Breyers had created. The
Brand will always satisfy the ice cream customers
who are looking for a very authentic taste and
something healthier.
References
“Finding Science in Ice Cream” - An Experiment for
Secondary School Classrooms Professor Doug Goff,
Dept. of Food Science, University of Guelph
“Breyers® History,” © 2009 Unilever Ice Cream,
<http://www.icecreamusa.com/breyers/history/>
“Unilever (Breyer’s & Good Humor) Using Genetical,”
SParis Reidhead, The Milkweed • December 2006 — 7
“Tara Gum and Breyers Natural Ice Cream”
<http://adailyscoop.com/2006/09/11/breyers-natural-ice-
cream-and-tara-gum-unilevers>.
“BREYERS SHUTS ITS DOORS…”, Rita Giordano,
Inquirer Staff Writer, The Philadelphia Inquirer, October
28, 1995 Saturday, Final Ed.
“Ice cream parlor, Nice” Maritime Alps, France
<http://www.terragalleria.com/images/black-
white/france/fran7626-bw.jpeg>.
“Breyer's Ice Cream Has Tara Gum,” Meg Marco,
March 15, 2007 3:54 PM
“Breyers® | Unilever,”
http://www.unileverusa.com/brands/foodbrands/breyes
“Breyers Ice Cream”
http://www.breyers.com/products/fun-ice-cream-
flavors.aspx
http://www.breyers.com/products/frozen-fruit-bars.aspx
“Breyers’ All Natural Ice Cream Goes Green!”
<http://www.icecreamusa.com/media_center/press_relea
ses/organic_07_06.pd
“History of Breyers Ice Cream”
http://www.bancroftcyberfair.com/foods/breyers.html
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