Two scoops of frozen poop, please!

In an announcement that should come as no surprise to anyone who has tasted the stuff, China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has confirmed that Chinese-made ice cream is bad ... really bad ... and potentially harmful to your health. A muddled China Daily story about the report says that Chinese ice cream has an approval rating of 52.6 percent -- not very good, but still about 10 points better than President Bush.

The adminstration tested 76 ice cream products made by 71 manufacturers in 13 provinces and municipalities and found nearly half of them to be "substandard." Thirty-one products had "misleading labels" -- not surprising at all -- and 10 products failed to "meet the standard" for fat content (story doesn't elaborate on that one). It was also found that some "profit-driven" manufacturers used artificial sweeteners instead of the real sugar, which is more expensive, thus disregarding "the country's regulations on the use of excessive sweeteners." Imagine that -- a diet product made in China!

Most alarming was the discovery that 19 products included "excessive coliforms" -- one product contained 24.4 times the accepted amount -- evidence that Chinese ice cream does indeed taste like shit.

For ice cream with no fecal flavoring whatsoever, Shanghaiist recommends La Perla [21 Yandang Lu, near Huaihai Xi Lu (雁荡路21号,近淮海西路)]. We've also enjoyed the ice cream at Garden Books [325 Changle Lu (长乐路325号)]. Local mags City Weekend and 8 Days rate some other options during this typical miserably hot Shanghai summer.

Photo from Bingfeng Teahouse.