To anyone who thought Unilever was not intent on world domination: anti-aging ice cream

Unilever, the biggest ice cream manufacturer in the world (so I guess it doesn't need to intend to dominate the world; it already does), makes Ben and Jerry's, Magnum, Cornetto, and is sold in more than 40 countries.  As if this wasn't world-dominate-y enough already, they're also planning to research anti-aging ice cream.  It will apparently contain anti-oxidants.  Ampere Life Sciences, based in San Jose, California, will carry out the research over a period of five years, Fox reports.

I don't know how a few anti-oxidants are going to mitigate the effects of all the sugar and fat that make your skin age and give you heart disease, but it seems they know the answers.  Speaking of which, why haven't they fortified ice cream with vitamins yet?  Why do cereals come fortified, but not ice cream?  Why shouldn't I have ice cream with vitamins for breakfast?  I demand answers.

Pus in your ice cream, from John Robbins

John Robbins, the only son of Baskin-Robbins founder Irvine Robbins, had a piece in the Huffington Post this week about Monsanto's recombinant bovine growth hormones (rBGH) showing up in ice cream.  Ben and Jerry's has pledged not to use rBGH-tainted milk in their products, and Robbins calls on other companies to do the same:

Ben & Jerry's gets all their milk from dairies that have pledged not to inject their cows with genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rBGH). Why, then, can't Haagen Dazs, Breyers and Baskin-Robbins do the same?
Starbucks now guarantees that all their milk, cream and other dairy products are rBGH-free. So do Yoplait and Dannon yogurts, Tillamook cheese, Chipotle restaurants, and many others. But ice cream giants Haagen Dazs, Breyers and Baskin-Robbins continue to use milk from cows injected with rBGH, a hormone that's been banned in Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Australia and all 27 nations of the European Union. As if to add insult to injury, Haagen Dazs and Breyers have the audacity to tell us, right on the label, that their ice cream is " All Natural."

Later he quotes a veterinarian who has some disturbing news about rBGH's effects on white blood cell count:

Does the increase in udder infections have an effect on the milk, and thus any ice cream, cheese or other product made from it? Most definitely, according to Dr. Richard Burroughs, a veterinarian deeply familiar with rBGH. "It results in an increase of white blood cells," he says, "which means there's pus in the milk!" The antibiotic use, he adds, "leaves residues in the milk. It's all very serious."

A sick cow

At the end of the article, he highlights a "Take Back Our Ice Cream" campaign from the Oregon chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility and urges readers to get engaged by contacting companies to demand they use hormone-free dairy products.

Ice cream news round-up, week of July 31: Lindsay Lohan, ice cream in Vegas and Canada, ice cream man molester

Here are some headlines from the world of ice cream:

Lindsay Lohan has been demanding Ben and Jerry's ice cream in jail.

If you're smart enough to get a business degree from Harvard, you're smart enough to get yourself a job as an ice cream sommelier.

A look behind-the-scenes at the Ben and Jerry's factory in Vermont.

Every parent's worst nightmare: an ice cream man inappropriately touches a 5-year-old girl in Denver.

The L.A. Times has a round-up of unusual ice cream options in Las Vegas, including a foot-tall, $1,000 sundae served in Baccarat crystal and topped, as it should be in Vegas, with edible gold.

Unilever, which owns Ben and Jerry's and is one of the world's major ice cream manufacturers, has a machine that, using facial recognition technology, gives you free ice cream if you smile.  Their truck is touring Europe, according to this Facebook page.

Andrew Breitbart, please find the racial controversy in this news: according to a mock election held in DC, 40% of Democrats prefer chocolate, 80% of Republicans prefer strawberry.  Come on, you know it's there. Chocolate?  Come on.

A DC chef has created a CSA-style membership club for his homemade, gourmet ice cream.

The Calgary Herald has a guide to some local places in case you're in Canada.