What? Kwality Walls is not ice cream?

Next time you buy that Vadilal or Kwality Walls chocolate cone for some respite in the blazing sun, remember it is not ice cream you are having. Yes, they taste like ice cream but they are not made of milk fat but of vegetable fat. Economic Times reports these so-called ice creams that are made of vegetable fat have gained 40 percent of share of India's Rs 1800 crore organised ice cream market.

These are merely frozen deserts which are sold in identical cones, cups and forms by brands like Kwality Walls, Vadilal, Lazza and Cream Bell. Food authority officials and ice cream makers like Amul and Mother Dairy which use dairy fat to make their ice creams, say this amounts to cheating the customers.

More from Business

[caption id="attachment_311414" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Ice creams that are made of vegetable fat have gained 40 percent of share of India's Rs 1800 crore organised ice cream market."][/caption]

ET quotes R S Sodhi, managing director of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, which owns Amul brand as saying, "Most brands mention frozen desserts in small letters and push the category instead of advertising it as dessert." He says dairy fat costs Rs 300/kg, while vegetable fat is Rs 50-60/kg. "Frozen desserts play with huge margins and cheat consumers."

However vegetable fats are not severely unhealthy as Indians any way use vegetable oil for cooking.

And for consumers, who eat ice cream only for pleasure, will not be too bothered about the sort of fat used in it. The range of products matters and brand loyalty can be big in such cases.