Vegan ice cream tested: good overall, 2 well-known brands fail

Debora Pape

7-7-2025

Translation: machine translated

With five out of twelve vegan ice cream flavours tested, almost half of the products scored top marks. They were tested for their flavour and ingredients in the laboratory.

In contrast to vegan cheese,there is hardly any difference in flavour between purely plant-based ice cream and products made from animal ingredients. In its July issue, the German consumer protection magazine Öko-Test analysed twelve vegan ice cream varieties not only for taste, but also for ingredientshttps://www.oekotest.de/essen-trinken/Veganes-Eis-im-Test-Bestnote-fuer-5-von-12_15539_1.html.

The result: eight ice-cold treats impressed the testers. Two scored only mediocre. As with many food tests, some products unfortunately also stood out negatively. Remarkably, these are two varieties from the well-known brands Cremissimo and Mövenpick.

The test results

The tests resulted in five overall ratings of «very good», three «good», two «satisfactory» and one «poor» and «unsatisfactory». You can read more about how the magazine tests below. This is what the results look like:

• Very good: «Ben & Jerry's Cookies on Cookie Dough, vegan», «Eis Macht Glycklich Haselnuss, vegan», Kaufland's own brand «K- take it veggie Veganes Vanilleeis», «Alnatura Haselnusseis, vegan», «Eismann Bio Salzkaramell & Brownie Eis»
• good: «Rewe Beste Wahl Bourbon Vanilla, vegan», «Dennree Veganes
  Vanilla ice cream», «Ice Date Almond Vanilla»
• satisfying: «Florida ice cream green vanilla mango passion fruit», «Nomoo real vanilla,
  vegan»
• insufficient: «Mövenpick Urban Moments Cherry Brownie, vegan»
• insufficient: «Cremissimo Bourbon Vanilla, vegan»

Basically, there is a lot of good news. None of the products show any significant findings of fat pollutants. The tests for the carcinogenic fumigant ethylene oxide were also negative. Products labelled as gluten-free do not actually contain gluten. The stated nutritional values are correct and the Nutri-Score information on the packaging is also correct.

The laboratory certified that the vanilla flavour of all ice cream varieties actually comes from the vanilla pod and not from flavourings.

Anomalies in vanilla flavour and misleading nutritional information

The test team noticed that a high vanilla content does not necessarily lead to a strong vanilla flavour. Conversely, a product with a low vanilla content can taste strongly of vanilla. According to Öko-Test, this is due to the other ingredients, which can either support or mask the flavour. The almonds in «Ice Date Almond Vanilla» could therefore explain why this product does not taste of vanilla at all. This resulted in a deduction in the flavour score.

The «Nomoo Real Vanilla, vegan» variety follows a misleading practice. In contrast to the other ice cream varieties, the nutritional values are not given per 100 grams, but per 100 millilitres. This means volume instead of weight - and this also includes added air, which according to Öko-Test makes the ice cream creamier. This means that the nutritional values cannot be directly compared with those of the competition. What is much worse, however, is that the calorie, fat and sugar content appears lower than it actually is. When converted to 100 grams, the sugar content is a third higher than the millilitre figure.

«Mövenpick» and «Cremissimo»: a set with X

The penultimate place went to Mövenpick's «Urban Moments Cherry Brownie, vegan». The laboratory identified residues of three pesticides. According to the magazine «, the levels measured are not acutely toxic», but the interactions of the pesticides have not yet been researched. The carcinogenic spraying agent captan was also discovered.

Bottom of the test field is «Cremissimo Bourbon Vanilla, vegan». The ice cream owes its ranking mainly to the highly elevated mineral oil components discovered by the laboratory. The saturated mineral oil hydrocarbons are said to be deposited in fatty tissue and some organs. The long-term consequences of this are unknown.

Both products and «Florida Eis green Vanille Mango Maracuja» contain the thickening agent carrageenan, which, according to the authors, may cause inflammation in the intestines. The «Florida» ice cream also contains carboxymethylcellulose, which is also suspected of causing intestinal inflammation.

If you prefer to make your own ice cream: My colleague Simon has tested several ice cream machines.

How does the magazine test?

For better comparability, the magazine primarily chose vanilla-flavoured products. The price of the flavours tested varied from 2.42 euros to 7.99 euros (around 2.26 to 7.47 francs) per 300 grams. The test team checked the packaging information on nutritional values, ingredients and the stated Nutri-Score.

All varieties were also tested in a laboratory for harmful substances such as pesticides and other problematic contaminants. The taste test was carried out by «trained sensory experts», who also assessed the appearance and consistency of the treats.

The overall judgement is made up of the test results for the ingredients, sensory properties and any other defects.

Galaxus says: I tried about half of the products tested myself. I liked them all, the «very good» ice cream from Ben & Jerry's (a little sweet) as well as the worst-rated «Cremissimo» - thanks for the mineral oil delivery straight to my stomach. In terms of flavour, I see no reason at all to go for non-vegan products when it comes to ice cream. I'm currently particularly fond of the vegan «Magnum Almond». Unfortunately, I don't know how this ice cream stick performs in the lab.

Debora Pape

Editor

Debora.Pape@galaxus.de

Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.

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