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Chinese ice cream brand under fire for products that don't melt

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Agence France-Presse

<p>BEIJING, China - A Chinese brand once dubbed the &quot;Hermes of ice cream&quot; has come under fire after internet users said some of its products do not melt -- even when baked with a blowtorch.</p><p>Videos showing Chicecream&#x27;s ice creams staying solid when lighters were held to them went viral, revealing they did not fully melt when left in a 31 degree Celsius (88 degree Fahrenheit) room for an hour or under a very hot flame.</p><p>The footage sparked consternation online, prompting users to question the company&#x27;s high prices and whether the products were overloaded with additives. The most expensive offering of Chicecream -- called &quot;Zhong Xue Gao&quot; in Chinese -- costs 66 yuan ($10). </p><p>The company said Wednesday that its products were in line with national food safety regulations.</p><p>&quot;We believe that it is not scientific to judge the quality of ice cream by baking, drying or heating ice cream,&quot; the brand said in a Weibo post that scooped up over 168,000 likes.</p><p>AFP could not verify the videos, and the stabilizers -- a food additive used to preserve structure -- commonly used in mass-produced ice creams have been widely approved for use, including by the US Food and Drug Administration.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2111360" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>Wang Silu, a senior national food inspector, also said the products used to thicken the ice cream were safe.</p><p>Chicecream has promoted itself as a Chinese alternative to Western brands such as Magnum and Haagen-Dazs, using supposedly natural ingredients and locally-inspired product designs.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2111357" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

A Chinese brand once dubbed the 'Hermes of ice cream' has come under fire after internet users said some of its products do not melt -- even when baked with a blowtorch.