CremaLita Ice Cream

[menton1]

Was with some people on the UWS last night and they stopped at a tiny place on Broadway and 77th Street called Crema Lita. The hook was Ice Cream without guilt; that is, a low-fat, low-everything ice cream. The place was quite crowded.

My issue with the place is that they have large signs with the ingredients and nutritional information. Ingredients #2, 3, 4 (listed in order of largest percentage) were skim milk, cream, and nonfat dry milk, followed by the usual unpronounceables in this type of product. Then they proceed to say that the product has ZERO cholesterol. All dairy products have cholesterol. If in the top 4 ingredients 3 of them are dairy, how could this product possibly have NO cholesterol? Where are the nutritional information police?

[fz18]

walk a little more uptown on broadway; Smoochies Lite and Creamy; between 80th and 81st St.

its the real thing.

Smoochies

All natural...no misrepresentations; just the truth.

[menton1]

walk a little more uptown on broadway; Smoochies Lite and Creamy; between 80th and 81st St.

its the real thing.

Smoochies

All natural...no misrepresentations; just the truth.

Aren't you a biased observer, a principal of Smoochies?

You have already misled us!!

Edited August 4, 2003 by menton1 (log)

[mikeyrad]

I second the Smoochies endorsement and I have no stake in the company.

Edited August 5, 2003 by mikeyrad (log)

[fz18]

I never hid the fact that i was a principle there. Come on and visit us and then judge for yourself!

[menton1]

Back to my original question:

How can Crema Lita say that they have ZERO cholesterol when 3 of the top 4 ingredients are dairy?

[claire797]

I never hid the fact that i was a principle there. Come on and visit us and then judge for yourself!

Welcome to the board!

BTW. Why don't we have any of these things in Austin? No Smoochies, No Cremalite, No Tasti Delite, nothing. It's not fair. Hmmmph.

Oh, and it's 102 freakin' degrees here. It's REALLY not fair.

[JosephB]

NY1 is reporting that Cremalita has entered into a settlement agreement with the City which requires that it no longer claim that its products are "low calorie".

There's a new Cremilita in my neighborhood on West 72nd Street. Yesterday I walked by and noticed a sign in front of the shop which claimed that Cremilita is "low carb". Perfect timing.

[ahr]

According to this Newsday article, CremaLita's calorie count is 70, not 60 as the company claimed, though still above the 40-calorie federal "low-fat" maximum. For reference, Smoochie's also claims 60 on its web site. From the article:

But the company also forced the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs to take back its allegations that CremaLita had lied about the calorie content in its frozen desserts. The allegations, which suggested the ice creams had as many as three times the amount of advertised calories, were the result of faulty lab tests by the Food and Drug Administration, according to a statement released by both parties.

New FDA tests showed CremaLita's French vanilla ice cream had 70 calories in 4 fluid ounces, just slightly above the original 60 calories advertised, but not nearly as high as consumer affairs said in its original complaint last year, based on FDA data. The complaint said the calories were as high as 154 to 181.

"The allegations had a huge impact on our business. It's been devastating," said Allison Britz, president of CremaLita Management. "Sales were off by 30 percent, and even more in some cases."

Nevertheless, CremaLita said the term "low calorie" will be taken out of all marketing materials. The FDA says foods must contain fewer than 40 calories per serving, or 4 fluid ounces, to earn that label. "We didn't realize it's a defined term from the FDA," Britz said.

This sounds like a sensationalist tempest in a teapot.

At nine grams of sugar per four ounces, Smoochie's is not low-carb. Does anyone know the sugar content of CremaLita? How about Tasti D-Lite? Has anyone done an independent taste test?

Edited May 27, 2004 by ahr (log)