OPINION & EDITORIAL
Babcock’s dirty little secret
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by Letters to the Editor
Friday, March 2, 2007
Here are a couple things you should know about me. First, in second grade, I fell in love with Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream by Babcock Ice Cream. It was during a field trip to the Capitol that I first tasted it. It was my favorite kind of ice cream for over 12 years. Second, I've been a full-fledged vegetarian (not vegan, I love diary) for 6 years, but it's been about 16 years since I've eaten seafood, chicken, and most other red meats. I've spent a good portion of my life checking labels to make sure I wasn't eating meat products. Imagine my surprise when out of the blue last semester I came across the "Cold Hard Facts (of Babcock Ice Cream)" sign in Ed's Express in Gordon Commons. The "cold hard fact" of Babcock Ice Cream is that all of their ice cream, except their four premium flavors, is made with pork gelatin. That's right, pork gelatin. Curious as to why this is, I searched the Internet for answers. None. There was no information about the recipes on the Babcock web site. Next, I went to the Memorial Union. No signs were posted and none of the workers knew what I was talking about; one worker even denied it. Lastly, I went to the source: Babcock Hall itself. Again, no signs were posted and none of the workers knew what I was talking about. One, however, referred me to the director down the hall. I knocked on his office to get the skinny on the ice cream. He said that the ice cream is kosher (although he wasn't clear as to what that meant) but it is made with pork gelatin.
Even though the thought of ice cream, something supposedly sweet and delicious, being made with pork gelatin is pretty sickening, that's not what concerns me. What bothers me is the lacking effort on the part of Babcock Ice Cream to inform its customers of the presence of pork gelatin. Not only would vegetarians (probably) want to know this, but those that follow the beliefs of the Judaic, Islamic, and Hindu religions would as well, even if the pork gelatin is kosher. The way to remedy this is simple: posting a sign or two (like the one in Ed's Express) wherever the ice cream is sold would probably work just fine. Babcock Ice Cream should be more concerned with informing their customers on what they're consuming, as well as being more sensitive to their dietary needs and wants, and less concerned with potentially losing customers due to this fact becoming just a little more public than before.
Lisa Schlieben schlieben@wisc.edu
Anonymous (March 2, 2007 @ 2:56am):
THAT'S RIGHT. PORK. lol @ madison!
Anonymous (March 2, 2007 @ 6:56am):
There's pork soda so why wouldn't there be pork iced cream? I've even seen iced cream with Snickers bits in it. Be adventurous. Your next story should be about hot dogs.
Anonymous (March 2, 2007 @ 7:38am):
They should have a sign - maybe then the line would be shorter the next time I'm there!
PS. I'm no expert but I don't think anything made from pig can be kosher.
Anonymous (March 2, 2007 @ 8:10am):
I wouldn't recommend eating Jell-o if I were you...
If it's tasty and non-lethal I couldn't care less what they put in it as long as it's cheap. :P
Anonymous (March 2, 2007 @ 9:50am):
"Second, I've been a full-fledged vegetarian (not vegan, I love diary)..."
Lisa, do you have my diary? Return it at once or I'll kick your ass!! You better not print any of it here! BH, don't let her do it. Stop her!! STOP HER!!
Anonymous (March 2, 2007 @ 11:33am):
Your limited experience and personal prejudices may have blinded you to the fact that pork can also be sweet and delicious, so I recommend you pick up a slab of baby back ribs before you comment on the issue again.
Anonymous (March 2, 2007 @ 11:58am):
Dear Dairy,
Today someone made fun of my typo. Your the only one I can trust. I'll talk too you soon.
Anonymous (March 2, 2007 @ 12:00pm):
The director lied to you. By definition, any food product with any pork product in it whatsoever cannot be kosher.
Anonymous (March 2, 2007 @ 12:06pm):
That seems really gross for no reason. I always read labels when I buy food (too make sure no hydrogenated oils exist). I have never seen ice cream-even ones filled with hydrogenated oils-with pork in them. I won't be buying Babcock ice cream anymore. That seems very deceptive of them.
Anonymous (March 2, 2007 @ 1:30pm):
Hey,
There are actually some signs that say there is gelatin in the Babcock ice cream. I have been told that the only ice cream without gelatin is the Premium. I am a vegetarian as well, so I just go to Cold Stone.
Anonymous (March 2, 2007 @ 2:14pm):
"I won't be buying Babcock ice cream anymore."
Great - more for me.
Anonymous (March 2, 2007 @ 3:52pm):
Can't wait for this poor delicate person to find out how cheese is made. Won't someone think of the cow children?
Anonymous (March 2, 2007 @ 4:42pm):
how is being vegetarian a "personal prejudice"?
Anonymous (March 2, 2007 @ 7:14pm):
Dear Dairy,
Today someone made fun of my typo. Your the only one I can trust. I'll talk too you soon.
It's a d-i-a-r-y, not a d-a-i-r-y, and it's mine! Give it back! NOW!!!
Anonymous (March 2, 2007 @ 8:00pm):
chocolate shoppe ice cream is vegitatrian and they have vegan soy cream and italian ice - and far better than cold stone - which uses eggs (boo)
Anonymous (March 3, 2007 @ 8:27pm):
if the badger herald weren't so incompetent they would have caught the mistake. thats why they have people called editors.
Anonymous (March 4, 2007 @ 8:32pm):
"Dear Dairy,
Today someone made fun of my typo. Your the only one I can trust. I'll talk too you soon.
It's a d-i-a-r-y, not a d-a-i-r-y, and it's mine! Give it back! NOW!!!"
maybe you should learn the difference between "your" and "you're" before you make fun of someone else
Anonymous (March 4, 2007 @ 8:40pm):
Wikipedia.org says, "Although most gelatin is usually considered non-kosher, as explained above, several prominent rabbinic authorities have noted that gelatin undergoes such extensive processing and chemical changes that it no longer has the status of meat, and as such may be considered pareve and kosher. "
Some gelatin can be considered kosher, even if it is from a pig.
Anonymous (March 4, 2007 @ 11:48pm):
I am proud of your effort to expose this information. It has nothing to do with personal preferences or tastes, but merely with being fair and open with customers and making sure they have all the information. Pork is not exactly the first thing one thinks of when on the topic of ice cream, and so it seems only necessary that such information is freely offered up. Thank you for your information and compassionate action.
And for those of you leaving unfriendly comments, I simply don't understand. What at all is offensive about this article? It is merely an effort to make sure the public knows the facts about what they consume. There is nothing spiteful or arrogant or derrogatory about any of it. Be sensible, people.
Anonymous (March 20, 2007 @ 4:25pm):
I work at the dairy store. Saying no signs were posted is simply a lie. There are two sheets typed that say what is in the ice cream that may be bothersome to people. The office also has a book with every ice cream flavor's ingredient listing. Aside from that there are walk in freezers where you can go and look at the ice cream yourself, which has the labels on the tubs. Most of the gelatin in the ice cream comes from ingredients produced outside of the store like the caramel. If she did not go and look at the labels herself it's her own fault that she ate the ice cream- they are available to the public. Legally we cannot recommend that someone should or should not eat something, we just provide the information. As a vegetarian myself for 21 years, I know what I eat before I put it in my mouth, and am responsible about doing my research before I point a finger at someone else. I also realize that my nutritional needs are not the same as the majority of the public's and many people don't know what I can and can't eat. The people working at the dairy store are mainly college students just like you, we don't have time to memorize what's in chocolate peanut butter ice cream- that's your job not mine! I'm sick and tired of people like her who complain about the world not catering to their nit pickiness, it reflects badly on vegetarians who choose not to have a big mouth. Speaking with your checkbook speaks louder than making all vegetarians look as crazy as you do.
Anonymous (March 20, 2007 @ 4:29pm):
Editors shouldn't correct errors comming from letters to the editor, I want to know how credible the source is. If someone isn't competent enough to spell dairy correctly their opinion is automatically thrown out in my mind.
Anonymous (March 28, 2007 @ 8:39pm):
It says gelatin, not pork gelatin. There is such a thing as vegetarian gelatin. Also, she's not asking you to recomend if or not recomend eating something, she's just asking for the information to be easily accessible. You complain that college students don't have the time to memorize what they're representing, well then, college students shouldn't have the time to go on a wild goose chase for ingredients. Furthermore, as an employee, you should be aware of what's in your product because that's your job, not mine. I work in a restaurant and I know what I'm selling to my customers, you should too. And, by the way, you look like crazier vegetarian than she ever will.
Anonymous (July 16, 2008 @ 1:32pm):
I agree that the ingredient list should be readily available.
What I don't understand is... has this person, in her 6 years of vegetarianism, consciously or unconsciously avoided info about the ethical problems of the dairy and the solution to those problems (veganism)?
I totally understand wanting to avoid meat, and gelatin, products that dome from the body of a dead animal. But where do you think milk, cheese, cream etc. come from?
They come from a dairy cow, an animal that is slaughtered after an average 4-6 years of life (the majority of it spent pregnant) when they wodl normally live as many as 20. So tell me, how is dairy not a product that is the result of death. Meat and gelatin come from a corpse. Dairy helps to kill an animal. Big difference, huh?
If you can go vegetarian, you can go vegan. Do it. And stop complaining about things that omnivores and vegans have no sympathy for. Only the deluded vegetarians, stuck between the callous indifference of carnivorism and the true compassion of veganism, care about pork gelatin in their ice cream.
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