Study: Most supermarket ice creams in Latvia receive low nutritional scores
A nutrition expert evaluated 526 ice creams from Rimi and Maxima; eight out of ten got the two lowest ratings. The researcher says manufacturers appear to ignore sugar and fat content as long as the product tastes good and is affordable.
Jurijs Ivanovs, a representative of the association ABCDE Open Food Data Lab and a promoter of the Nutri-Score nutrition labelling system in Latvia, has analysed the ice cream ranges of two major retail chains. The study covered 526 products from Rimi and Maxima, with the latter assessed through the Barbora delivery service. The sample included single-serving ice creams, family-size packs, and fruit juice ice creams.
The findings are concerning: 80% of the products received the two lowest possible nutritional ratings. The analysis also revealed substantial differences between individual products, with sugar and saturated fat content varying by several hundred percent.
According to Ivanovs, the results suggest that ice cream producers no longer treat sugar and fat levels as a problem, provided the product is tasty and reasonably priced. Since ice cream is a popular summer treat, especially among children, he stresses the importance of checking nutritional information.
Ivanovs said that, for health reasons, he would not eat any of the evaluated ice creams, and therefore decided to buy an ice cream maker. Delfi reviewed the findings published on ABCDE.lv. The publication includes a list of ice creams with the lowest amount of saturated fatty acids per 100 grams.
