Magnum ice cream in China is low-cost, lower quality than the product sold in the West under the same brand name. A blogger ‘s complaint on Weibo sparks a Chinese consumer revolution against Unilever.
Globalization of brands is entirely illusory when it is accompanied by the ‘dual quality‘ phenomenon that still famously rages, in ice cream as in various other food and non-food categories.
The real challenge to protect consumers is to affirm the illegality and punish these practices on a planetary level, following theEuropean experience in this direction.
Magnum, dual quality food at the expense of Chinese consumers
China today expresses the largest population (1.4 billion) and the largest middle class (>400 mln people) planet-wide, with an average wage that has tripled in the last 10 years and a vibrant cohort of discerning ConsumAtors, the Millennials (23-38 years old. See footnote 1).
On 7/30/21 blogger Game Discount Information reported on Weibo, one of the most popular social networks in China, the double face of Magnum ice cream. Which He Lux We (a Unilever group company) sells in China under the brand name Menglong. (2) And the post quickly spread all over social media, sparking lively protests.
Magnum ice cream, Europe and China, ingredients compared
The ingredients of the ‘original’ Magnum see milk, also powdered and in protein isolate, stand out, as seen in our market analysis of 19 ice cream bars. (3) With a bit of butter, however, in a lower proportion than the less valuable coconut oil.
Instead, the Magnum – Menglong, the low-cost Chinese version, sees water as the first ingredient and vegetable fats to follow. With almost no trace of dairy ingredients, outside of a small proportion of milk powder.
Water and vegetable fats instead of milk
The blogger who exposed Magnum’s dual quality exposes how replacing milk with water and vegetable fats only serves to save on production costs and maximize profits. Nothing could be truer, and that is just why Big Food still uses huge amounts of palm oil, as it turns out.
‘If you go to the supermarket, you will find that cheaper vegetable oils are used to replace the more expensive milk fat. More and more products are following this trend’. Only ‘in the ingredients some sorbets such as Zhongjie 1946 Banqiao, there is no vegetable oil, drinking water, etc., but pure milk, cocoa liquor, etc.‘ (4)
The Unilever empire by the way, it is worth remembering, sinks its wealth into palm oil produced in Congo by slaves on a million hectares of land robbed from its inhabitants by the criminal Leopold II of Belgium.
When in Rome, Magnum when in Rome
The news of the low-cost Magnum was widely reported in the Chinese media. And a subsequent comparative survey of Magnum ice creams (Menglong, China) confirmed this.
‘Take Menglong (Magnum, ed.) 64 g cappuccino-flavored ice cream as an example. The fat source of the ice cream sold in the Heluxue Jingdong store. (Unilever’s subsidiary in China, ed.) is mainly cocoa butter, vegetable oil, etc. (…) On Amazon’s official website in the United States, the main ingredients of the same ice cream are milk, sugar and cream‘. (5)
Unilever’s discrimination also affects consumers in Malaysia and Mexico, Chinese media report. And the official response of its global V.President Zeng Xiwen to China Food Press is ridiculous when he refers to ‘high-quality imported coconut oil‘ as comparable to milk. (6) When in Rome, make your mark.
Marta Strinati and Dario Dongo
Notes
1) Mirko Zenga. The Chinese consumer: Millennials and the propensity to buy luxury. The Sole 24 ore. 19.5.21 https://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/il-consumatore-cinese-millennials-e-propensione-all-acquisto-lusso-ADBfRiBB
(2) SEE https://www.yoycart.com/Product/612628786327/
(3) Marta Strinati. Ice cream, 19 bar types compared. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade) 7/21/21 https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/gelati-19-tipi-da-bar-a-confronto
(4) Chinanews.com, 3.8.21 https://www.chinanews.com/cj/2021/08-03/9534854.shtml
(5) Chinese people are not worthy of meat, eggs and milk? Who gave Menglong the courage to “double standard”? 18.8.21, https://min.news/en/economy/dad379c843a63acf845443238357692a.html
(6) Peter Wu. Heluxue is accused of “double labeling” of raw materials in China? Just now, Unilever executives responded to us! China Food Press. 9.8.21, https://chinafoodpress.com/2021/08/09/heluxue-is-accused-of-double-labeling-of-raw-materials-in-china-just-now-unilever-executives-responded-to-us/
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
