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I bought some "Keto-Ice Cream" a few days ago, and I have been since questioning the trustworthiness of its Nutritional Facts. I would like some help to decipher them, as there is either something I am missing, or they are simply wrong.

First, these are the ingredients as written in the packaging (in the same order).

Cocoa Ice Cream: Water, Erythritol, Polydextrose, Low-fat Cocoa Powder (7%), Sunflower Oil, Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Locust Bean Gum, Guar Gum, Carrageenan, Sunflower Lecithin.

And this is the corresponding Nutritional Table (both for 100g of product).

Name Value
Energy 34Kcal
Fat 6g
- of which Saturated 1.3g
Protein 10g
Carbohydrates 15g
- of which sugars <0.5g
- of which polyols 13.5g
Fiber 11g

Looking at these, I think that at least one of the following statements is correct:

  • The ingredients are wrong (either in their order, or in the actual items)
  • The Energy (KCal) is wrong
  • The macronutrients values are wrong

MY QUESTIONS:

  1. How is the reported "Energy" value possible with the given macronutrients?
  2. Looking at the ingredients, how are the reported macronutrients values possible?

For instance, the nutritional facts reports 6g of fat, and since 1g of fat = 9Kcal, then this macronutrient alone should provide 54KCal, which is already above the reported value (34 KCal). I even question the validity of 6g of fats in the finished product by going over the ingredients: the only ingredients in that list that contain fat are the cocoa powder (which only amounts to 7% of the finished product, and low-fat cocoa powder has less than 20% fat) and the sunflower oil (which, being mentioned AFTER the cocoa powder, must be less than 7% of the whole product despite being 100% fat). Hence, unless the Sunflower Oil represents, say, 6% of the product, then I do not understand how it is possible for the finished product to have 6g of fat.

The same can be said for the Protein value: 10g of protein=40KCal>34KCal. And how are 10g of protein possible from those ingredients?

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS assuming that either the nutritional table or the ingredient list are wrong:

  1. what should be a (possible) Nutritional Table if the ingredients are correct?
  2. what should be the (possible) ingredients list if the Nutritional Table is correct?
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  • Is it possible the 7% meant the low-fat cocoa powder is 7% fat and not 7% of the product? Then theoretically the sunflower oil could be almost 20% of the total since it's fifth in the list.
    – Kat
    Aug 16, 2021 at 0:13
  • Could it be that the product being marketed as Keto, they only count net carbs for calories, omitting both protein and fat?
    – Enivid
    Aug 17, 2021 at 19:50
  • @Enivid that would not make much sense: the carbs are mostly polyols which, being from Erythritol, have 0 KCal. The net calories would be 6 if we only account for carbs (and 28 if we also consider the Fiber, and assume that all Fiber is soluble...)
    – P. Shark
    Aug 17, 2021 at 23:43
  • @Kat I doubt it. Low fat Cocoa has more than 10% fat. They 7% MUST refer to the amount of Cocoa in the whole product, because such product is sold as a "Cocoa Ice Cream" meaning that the producer must specify the percentage of Cocoa in the ingredient list for transparency obligations.
    – P. Shark
    Aug 17, 2021 at 23:47

1 Answer 1

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Your interpretation of the label is right, and so is your conclusion: the information of the label is internally inconsistent. The given calorie count is incompatible with the given nutrient composition.

From here, no other conclusions can be made, and your further subquestions are unanswerable. Any part of the information given could be wrong, and there is no way to say which one.

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  • That's both a relief but also very disheartening. I'm really torn as to what to believe and I'm very interested in getting to the bottom of this!
    – P. Shark
    Aug 17, 2021 at 23:48
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    @P.Shark sounds like you should report it to both the manufacturer and the authority which regulates this labeling in your jurisdiction.
    – Kat
    Aug 18, 2021 at 15:01

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