The global ice cream and frozen dessert market was valued at USD 148.7 billion in 2025 and is on track to reach USD 159.9 billion in 2026. However, most of this growth is concentrated in exactly the formats that are hardest to deliver: premium, functional, plant-based, high-protein, clean-label. These variants already command 30–40% price premiums.
This sounds like an opportunity until you’re the one trying to reformulate for protein, reduce sugar, and shorten the ingredient list. Change one ingredient, and you’re often dealing with iciness, faster melting, or loss of structure in the finished product.
Regulation is adding pressure on top of that. The FDA is preparing a formal definition of ultra-processed foods covering additives, emulsifiers, and preservatives. Consumers are also demanding shorter ingredient lists while expecting the same indulgent texture they’ve always had. The problem is that these are exactly the ingredients most ice cream formulations rely on for stability and texture.
Solving this does not stay limited to formulation. Changes in ingredients often require adjustments in processing conditions, and what works at the bench does not always hold during scale-up. That gap creates rework cycles, inconsistent product performance, and delays before a formulation reaches production. Rising input costs and added complexity in plant-based systems further increase the pressure on development timelines.
This article discusses 5 innovations that demonstrate how leading ice cream companies are addressing these challenges across formulation, equipment, texture, and production efficiency.
1. A Smarter Way to Increase Cooling Output in a Machine
In existing thermoelectric cooling systems, Peltier or cooling cells are usually limited to two opposite sides of the central cooling body. This limits the overall cooling output.
In a new cooling system design by TOOA S.p.A., multiple cooling cells can be placed around the outer surfaces of a central body that holds the mixture. This allows more cells to operate simultaneously. As a result, cooling output increases without changing the structure. It can be used to prepare ice cream, sorbets, mousses, and other chilled food products.
Each cooling cell is paired with a heat sink. One side removes heat from the central body. The other releases it outward. A belt runs around the cooling cells and heat sinks and can be tightened with a tensioning mechanism to keep them pressed against the surface.
Mechanical adapters are placed between the belt and the cooling cells. These help spread the pressure more evenly and allow smoother positioning during assembly.
This setup allows more cooling cells to be added around the central body while keeping all components in contact. It supports higher cooling output within the same compact structure.
2. Using Small-Particle Starch to Prevent Texture Loss Above −18°C
Exposure to temperature fluctuations or higher temperatures leads to ice crystal growth, loss of texture, and reduces the quality of ice creams. To overcome these challenges, China Agricultural University made an ice cream formulation that maintains structure and quality at higher storage temperatures.
The method adds small-particle starch at about 1% to 6% of the total formulation. The starch can come from sources such as seed amaranth or rice, with particle sizes below 10 μm. When incorporated into the mix, it changes how ice crystals form, resulting in smaller crystals and a smoother structure.
This process follows standard ice cream production steps, such as mixing, pasteurization, homogenization, aging, and freezing, with starch added during mixing or freezing.
As a result, the ice cream maintains its hardness, shape, texture, and sensory properties even at temperatures above −18°C. Test results show increased hardness and slower melting and dripping.
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3. Controlled Formulation Ratios that Preserve Soft Serve during Transport and Refreezing
In conventional soft serve, storage, transport, and refreezing can lead to ice formation, loss of creaminess, and uneven melting. CVT Inc. developed a soft-serve ice cream formulation that maintains texture and consistency during storage, transport, and refreezing.
The formulation includes calculated ratios of whole milk, heavy cream, non-fat dry milk, sweetener, stabilizer, emulsifier, and flavor. It is prepared using standard steps like emulsification, pasteurization, homogenization, aging, and freezing.
Defined ingredient ratios and controlled processing conditions result in ice crystals smaller than 50 µm and a more stable internal structure. This affects properties such as overrun, viscosity, and freezing behavior in ice cream.
As a result, the product remains solid at 0°C and starts melting only after at least 5 minutes at 25°C. It also maintains its consistency for at least 30 minutes during transport.
Ice cream prepared with this formulation retains its texture after exposure to room temperature and subsequent refreezing. It also maintains soft-serve characteristics during storage at 0°C.
The product is packaged in a pouch, allowing it to be stored, transported, and consumed while maintaining its texture and melting behavior.
4. Semi-Frozen Base Storage Cuts Single-Serve Gelato Preparation Time
Preparing single servings of gelato with conventional systems and processes takes time because the mixture starts at a lower temperature and must go through the full freezing process for each portion.
Ali Group S.R.L. (Carpigiani) has designed a method and machine for preparing single servings of gelato. In this approach, a base mixture is kept in a semiliquid state inside a batch freezing chamber at −5°C to 5°C while being mixed without freezing.
When a flavor is selected, additional base liquid or flavoring is added to the chamber. Cooling and stirring are performed simultaneously to convert the mixture into a single portion of gelato, which is then dispensed directly. This method allows different flavors to be prepared sequentially using the same base mixture.
Keeping the base mixture close to the processing temperature reduces the time required for freezing. Data shows that lower starting temperatures lead to shorter freezing times.
The system includes a storage tank, a freezing chamber, a stirrer, a cooling unit, a control system, a flavoring unit, and a temperature sensor. This setup allows faster preparation of fresh gelato portions while allowing flavor selection at the time of serving.
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5. Oil Blends that Reduce Saturated Fat by 30–50% In Ice Creams Without Losing Texture
In frozen desserts, reducing saturated fat often leads to changes in texture, smoothness, and overall product quality.
Cargill developed a formulation that replaces traditional fats with a blend of sunflower oil and coconut-based fat. The blend is structured to allow more liquid oil to be used while still maintaining the texture and consistency provided by solid fats. Its innovation lies in controlled composition and physical properties.
This blend is used along with standard ingredients such as protein, sweetener, emulsifier, stabilizer, and water. It maintains texture and mouthfeel similar to conventional formulations while reducing saturated fat by at least 15%, and up to 30–50%.
This approach reduces saturated fat while maintaining texture, smoothness, and product performance.
Conclusion
As more variables are introduced into frozen dessert development, new ingredients, formats, and processing methods, the challenge is increasingly about how these elements interact with each other. Changes made to improve one aspect can affect product behavior elsewhere, especially during scale-up or across different production environments.
At the same time, many of these newer approaches do not yet have well-established reference points. This makes it difficult to evaluate how they will perform over time, under different storage conditions, or across production batches, increasing uncertainty during development and commercialization.
In the future, the focus will be on understanding how these approaches perform in real production settings and how consistently they can be applied.
If you are evaluating changes to your product or process pipeline, we can help you assess how different approaches compare in scalability, cost, and supplier readiness.
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