The Legal Reason Chick-Fil-A's Ice Cream Is Actually Called 'Ice Dream'

Sweet treats at Chick-fil-A are, without a doubt, delicious, including chocolate chunk cookies, milkshakes, and Ice Dream cups. Wait just a second, shouldn't that be ice cream? Ice cream at Chick-fil-A is actually called Ice Dream, and it isn't just a catchy phrase. There's actually a legal reason behind it, and that reason has to do with the ingredients that go into its deliciously creamy dairy products. Chick-fil-A keeps its exact recipe for Ice Dream a secret, as well it should, but the main ingredients are clear: milk, sugar, artificial flavoring, emulsifiers, and stabilizers. 

The issue boils down to the amount of ingredients, specifically the milk fats (the fats derived from milk), which need to be at a certain percentage for a product to legally be called ice cream. To be called ice cream, a product needs to contain at least 10% milk fat per gallon; otherwise, it has to go by a different name. 

Chick-fil-A's Ice Dream contains less than the requisite 10%, and although that choice seems to be intentional and results in a lighter-textured product with fewer calories than traditional ice cream, this dairy product simply can't be called ice cream. Although Chick-fil-A may not be able to call its frozen dairy dessert ice cream, Ice Dream is still a big hit with customers. In fact, the seasonal Peach Milkshake, made with Ice Dream dessert and topped with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry, scored the second spot from the top in a recent ranking of signature fast food desserts.

Chick-fil-A isn't alone in selling products that are "sort of" what customers think they are, especially when it comes to ice cream. Dairy Queen, a chain that has been selling 'ice cream' for decades, doesn't actually serve ice cream, but rather a very similar frozen dairy dessert, soft serve. Whether you call it soft serve or Ice Dream, it all boils down to essentially the same thing: a frozen dairy product that doesn't meet the exacting standards of the USDA, the government entity that has created the regulations and guidelines that determine what can be called ice cream and what can't.

Ice cream, or rather products that loosely fit the description, aren't the only products that fall victim to legalities when it comes to what they can and can't be called. Chicken wings are a perfect example. Chicken wings are everywhere (some good and some not so much at local fast food chains), but some people prefer the boneless type. Boneless chicken wings, although a popular menu item found at fast food restaurants around the country, also have their issues. These delicious little bites, breaded and covered in any number of delicious seasonings and sauces, may be chicken, but they certainly aren't chicken wings sans bones. They're simply breaded chunks of chicken meat, similar to nuggets. That doesn't make them any less delicious, just a bit misleading. 

As long as you know what you are getting, you won't be disappointed, just like with Chick-fil-A's Ice Dream, which may not be actual ice cream, but is still delicious.