“Meets all FDA requirements” is probably one of the most meaningless statements that you can read, when it comes to food ingredients. Here is a quote from yesterday’s news:

Although the Great Value ice cream doesn’t quite melt, the ingredients meet all FDA requirements and and have less fat, too.

I guess that if you set a Walmart brand ice cream sandwich out in the sun for a while it still looks like an ice cream sandwich. When other brands melt like you would expect, the Great Value brand is still ready to eat, when you are ready to eat it. Don’t worry though, with the FDA’s blessing on all of it’s ingredients, that scientifically improved ice cream will behave just like the other, more traditional ones do once they are in your body. That FDA seal of approval means you have nothing to fear! This is from the FDA, itself:

FDA approves additives in food for people.

FDA field investigators inspect food companies, examine food shipments from abroad, and collect samples. Laboratory scientists analyze samples. Compliance officers recommend legal action and follow through on enforcement issues. What undergoes premarket approval? New food additives and color additives must be approved before they can be used in foods. These additives are considered food under the law.

New food additives, including substances added intentionally to food and substances that may migrate to food because they contact food (e.g., food packaging) must be shown to be safe to FDA’s satisfaction before companies can market them.

Companies that want to add new additives to food bear the responsibility of providing FDA with information demonstrating that the additives are safe. FDA experts review the results of appropriate tests done by companies to ensure that the additive is safe for its intended use.

An approved food additive must be used in compliance with its approved uses, specifications, and restrictions. Certain food ingredients, such as those with a long history of safe use in food, do not require premarket approval.

So, whoever makes Walmart’s ice cream wants it to maintain it’s shape, even if it gets warmer than ice cream normally should, like on the steamer from China to the US, if the air conditioning goes out. All that ice cream will still look and feel and taste like ice cream, so that when the freezer does come back on, nobody will have to throw anything away. Efficiency! Reduced Waste! Safe for human consumption (your results may vary). Another advantage is for campers. You know how if you get ice cream it will melt in your camping cooler? No more! This stuff will still be cool and edible when every other brand of ice cream is turned back into custard. Win-Win! Plus, it’s verified safe for human consumption by the manufacturer providing to FDA ‘information’ demonstrating that all of it’s ingredients are ‘safe’.

What a wonderful country! No wonder our taxes are so low in the US. If only they would let the airlines just provide the FAA with ‘information’ that their airplanes are safe, or drug manufacturers to provide FDA with claims that their drugs are safe. The savings could be passed directly to the consumer. Prices would go down, even though ‘costs’ in lives, safety and health might go up. Oh well, if you can’t afford Haagen Daaz ice cream then your health doesn’t matter to our elected officials, I suppose.

Well, as far as I am concerned, since these ice cream sandwiches come in a box, I am covered. If I were to eat one offered to me as a treat at a friend’s house I wouldn’t worry that it would hurt me right away. That is what FDA approval really means. In actuality, there is no real difference between today’s subject food and any other processed food sold in the US. All processed foods should be suspect in your mind. If you stick to the outside walls of your grocer your chances of being tricked into eating something that is ‘declared safe’ are vastly lower. That is my plan.