At Kroger, the answer is yes.
I always assumed that my bottle of Redi-Whip – a “whipped topping” in a spray can was a UPF. It never occurred to me that the carton of heavy whipping cream that I use to make homemade whipped cream from scratch is as well.
I bought a bottle of heavy whipping cream to make homemade ice cream. It never occurred to me to check the ingredients on a package of something that I thought was an ingredient.
It was only after I used the bottle of Kroger store brand Heavy Whipping Cream that I noticed that cream was far from the only ingredient.
The bottle was labeled as “heavy whipping cream Grade A Ultra-pasteurized.” It turns out the ingredients in cream are:
Cream, Milk, Carrageenan, Mono & Diglycerides, and Polysorbate 80.
Lesson learned. Back to the store I went, trying to find a bottle of cream that was actually cream. Surely the issue was that I had purchased the cheapest bottle of store brand cream.
I had no idea how hard it was going to be to find a bottle of cream that was actually cream. I wound up going to five different grocery stores before I was able to find a bottle of cream that was not UPF.
While one of the most egregious was the Kroger store brand, which contained milk and then all of the thickening agents that they used to offset the milk, even more expensive brands that I ordinarily trust did not have options for non-UPF cream. Also none of them had any indication on the front of the container that they contained anything other than cream.
Is the Cream at Kroger UPF?
At Kroger all of the options for cream were UPF. They were: Kroger store brand, Horizon Organic Heavy Whipping Cream, Land o’ Lakes Heavy Whipping Cream, and Simple Truth Organic Heavy Whipping Cream.
Is the Cream at H-E-B UPF?
Then I thought that the obvious problem was that I hadn’t just gone to H-E-B. H-E-B is a regional grocery store chain in Texas, which generally is really well stocked and has a lot of excellent quality fresh local foods. The HEB that I went to did not have any cream in the store that was not UPF. They carried Horizon Organic Heavy Whipping Cream, H-E-B Heavy Whipping Cream, and Central Market Organics Heavy Whipping Cream. Every single one of them had something added to the cream.
Is the Cream at Whole Foods UPF?
Ok, no problem. Off to Whole Foods. Whole Foods should have some UPF-free cream, right? Nope. They had Horizon Organic Heavy Whipping Cream and Organic Valley Organic Ultra Pasturize Heavy Whip Cream in stock in the store.
The Whole Foods website listed two different brands of UPF-free cream as being available, but neither was actually available in the store. One brand was Kalona SuperNatural Organic Whipping Cream which contains Certified Organic Grade A Cream. There were other products from that brand available in the store, but no cream. The other brand was Mill-King Low temp Pasteurized Heavy Whipping Cream.
Is the Cream at Trader Joe’s UPF?
I stopped at Trader Joe’s to see if they would have cream that wasn’t UPF. Their website listed “Trader Joe’s Organic Whipping Cream is a simple, unmodified staple provided for all of our chef shoppers.” They did also list a disclaimer about products and ingredients varying by region. So I was not that surprised to find out in the store itself, the only cream they had available was UPF, because it contained gellan gum.
Is the Cream at Central Market UPF?
Central Market is a store that is part of H-E-B. It is a very high end grocery store. Central Market had two types of cream that were UPF-free and several that were UPF.
They had Volleman’s Family Farm Heavy Cream which came in a glass pint bottle. The bottle had a $2 deposit. I thought it was nice that there was this option which was mostly plastic-free. It was very easy to clean the jar to return it. I made the cream into ice cream, and it came out great! I would definitely purchase their cream again. Volleman’s Family Farm cream is not an ultra-processed food.
They also had Mill-King Heavy Whipping Cream, which had been advertised elsewhere, but was actually in stock at Central Market. Mill-King brand cream is not an ultra-processed food.
Central Market also had a variety of brands that were UPF. These were: H-E-B Heavy Whipping Cream, Central Market Organics Heavy Whipping Cream, and Dutch Farms Heavy Whipping Cream.
Is the Cream at Randalls UPF?
Randalls is owned by the much larger chain Albertson’s. I haven’t stopped in the physical store to check to see if they have non-UPF cream, but their website says that all of the brands that they sell are UPF. They have Lucerne Heavy Whipping Cream, Horizon Organic Heavy Whipping Cream, Shamrock Farms Heavy Whipping Cream, DairyPure Heavy Whipping Cream, and Schepps 40% Fresh Heavy Whipping Cream. Every single one of them contains ingredients other than cream.
Is the Cream at Sprouts UPF?
The Sprouts website advertises that one of the brands of cream that they carry is non-UPF, and all of the others are UPF. I went to the store to see if this was correct, and it is exactly what I found to be true. While I was there I saw another customer buy almost their entire stock of cream that was not ultra-processed.
They sell Kalona Organic Whipping Cream, which is non-UPF. They had it in stock in both the large and small size containers. They also carry the following brands which are UPF: Sprouts Heavy Whipping Cream, Sprouts Organic Heavy Whipping Cream, Horizon Organic Heavy Whipping Cream, Organic Valley Organic Heavy Whipping Cream.
Is the Cream at Target UPF?
Target carries a few different brands of heavy whipping cream, but all of them are UPF. They are Hiland Heavy Whipping Cream, Land O’ Lakes Heavy Whipping Cream, Horizon Organic Heavy Whipping Cream, Good and Gather Heavy Whipping Cream, and Good and Gather Organic Heavy Whipping Cream.
Is the Cream at Walmart UPF?
Walmart only carries whipping cream that is ultra-processed. They carry Great Value which is their store brand as well as Horizon Organics Heavy Whipping Cream, Land O’ Lakes Heavy Whipping Cream, and DairyPure Heavy Whipping Cream.
Brands of Cream that are UPF
Here are some of the bands of heavy whipping cream that are ultra-processed foods and their ingredients.
Horizon Organic Heavy Whipping Cream
Organic Grade A Cream, Gellan Gum.
Land O’ Lakes Heavy Whipping Cream
Heavy Cream, Skim Milk, Contains 1% or Less of: Mono and Diglycerides, Polysorbate 80, Carrageenan.
(Kroger) Simple Truth Organic Heavy Whipping Cream
Organic Cream, Gellan Gum
Kroger Heavy Whipping Cream
Cream, Milk, Carrageenan, Mono and Diglycerides, Polysorbate 80.
H-E-B Heavy Whipping Cream
Heavy Cream, Gellan Gum
(H-E-B) Central Market Organics Heavy Whipping Cream
Organic Grade A Cream, Gellan Gum
Organic Valley Organic Ultra Pasturize Whip Cream
Organic Grade A Cream (Milk), Gellan Gum
Dutch Farms Heavy Whipping Cream
Heavy Cream, Milk, Contains less that 0.5% of: Carrageenan Mono and Diglycerides, Polysorbate 80.
(Randalls) Lucerne Heavy Whipping Cream
Heavy Cream, Milk, Contains Less than 0.5% of: Carrageenan, Mono and Diglycerides, Polysorbate 80.
Shamrock Farms Heavy Whipping Cream
Heavy Cream, Contains Less than 1% of: Carrageenan, Mono & Diglycerides, Polysorbate 80.
DairyPure Heavy Whipping Cream
Heavy Cream, Contains Less than 0.5% of: Mono and Diglycerides, Polysorbate 80, Carrageenan.
Schepps 40% Heavy Whipping Cream
Cream, Contains Less than 1% of: Carrageenan, Cellulose Gum, Polysorbate 80, Guar Gum, Monoglycerides.
Sprouts Heavy Whipping Cream
Heavy Cream, Contains Less Than 1% Of Each Of The Following: Mono and Diglycerides, Sodium Phosphate, Sodium Citrate, Carrageenan.
Sprouts Organic Heavy Whipping Cream
Organic Cream, Gellan Gum.
Hiland Heavy Whipping Cream
Grade A Cream And Milk, Mono, Diglycerides And Carrageenan.
(Target) Good and Gather Heavy Whipping Cream
Cream, Mono And Diglycerides, Cellulose Gum, Polysorbate 80, Carrageenan.
(Target) Good and Gather Organic Heavy Whipping Cream
Organic Grade A Cream, Gellan Gum.
(Walmart) Great Value Heavy Whipping Cream
Heavy Cream, Milk, Contains less than 0.5% of: Mono and Diglycerides, Polysorbate 80, Carrageenan.
Brands of Cream that are Not UPF
Kalona SuperNatural Organic Whipping Cream
Mill-King Low temp Pasteurized Heavy Whipping Cream
Volleman’s Family Farm Heavy Cream
What is Gellan Gum?
Gellan gum is the most common thing added to cream, especially creams that are labeled as organic.
It is a thickening agent that was developed in 1978 by Kelco, which at the time was part of Merck & Co. It is widely approved as a food additive and used as a thickener, emulsifier, and stabilizer.