Well they’re thinking about it, at least. Milk producers have petitioned the State Duma to force makers if ‘ice cream’ that contains more than 12% vegetable oil to rename their foods melorin. Almost three quarters of the country’s £1.1billion ($1.8billion, €1.3billion) a year ‘ice cream’ production would fail to meet the new standard, sparking fury and a frosty reception from the companies that manufacture it.
Morozhenoe, the word the Russians use for ice cream, simply means frozen, without making any reference to ingredients. But the milk industry insists that consumers should know whether they’re getting real ice cream or a palm oil equivalent. Melorin, or as it’s known in English, mellorine (though I have to confess, I’ve never heard of it) is 20% cheaper to make than real ice cream, which is why it’s so popular with producers, whose attitude to the proposed re-branding is unlikely to thaw any time soon.
