A number of inquiries received from Iowa ice cream manufacturers shows that they believe that some steps in the processing or handling of ice cream cause a lower fat percentage in the frozen product than in the mix. From a theoretical viewpoint, no such fat lowering should occur in the product. A sufficient number of inquiries has been received, however, to warrant studying the causes of any irregularities which might result from the processing and the handling of the mix and of the frozen ice cream, and likewise, any winch might be introduced by the methods of obtaining and mixing the samples, by the methods of analysis employed or by the analytical apparatus used.

For the sake of convenience the problem was divided into eight sections: 1. The effect of the temperature at which the samples were weighed, 2. a comparison of some Babcock modifications for ice cream testing, 3. the effect of the type of test bottle used, 4. the effect of aging and freezing, 5. the effect of hardening and retail handling, 6. variations that may occur in a single mix, 7. a comparison of tests made with samples taken in the frozen and in the melted state, and 8. a comparison of the test of the mix with those of the frozen ice cream, the scrapings from the dasher and the scrapings from the freezer sides.