Ice Cream in the Philippines

The distinction between ice cream and mellorine has played an important role in the Philippine frozen dessert industry for decades. Traditional ice cream relies on dairy fat, while mellorine replaces some or all of the milk fat with vegetable fat, resulting in a product that is often more affordable to produce. Because the Philippines has historically depended on imported dairy ingredients and has had limited domestic milk production, manufacturers have long sought cost-effective alternatives that could meet consumer demand while remaining competitively priced.

As a result, many frozen desserts sold in the Philippines have been formulated with vegetable fats or marketed as “frozen desserts” rather than strictly as ice cream. These products became popular because they offered a creamy texture, good shelf stability, and lower production costs, making them accessible to a wider range of consumers. For many Filipinos, the distinction between mellorine and ice cream was not always obvious, as both were enjoyed in similar ways and often appeared alongside one another in grocery stores and neighborhood shops.

In recent years, consumer interest in premium frozen desserts has grown, encouraging manufacturers to place greater emphasis on dairy content, richer formulations, and higher-quality ingredients. While mellorine continues to occupy an important place in the market as an affordable alternative, many brands now offer both vegetable-fat and dairy-based products to appeal to different tastes and budgets. This evolution reflects broader changes in the Philippine food industry, where affordability, ingredient sourcing, and shifting consumer preferences have all influenced the development of frozen desserts.

Lactose intolerance is indeed common in the Philippines, as it is throughout much of East and Southeast Asia. Estimates vary, but the majority of Filipino adults likely have some degree of lactose malabsorption. However, there are a few reasons why this probably wasn’t a major driver behind the popularity of mellorine:

1. Ice cream isn’t very high in lactose. Compared with milk, ice cream contains less lactose per serving because of its fat and sugar content, and many lactose-intolerant people can tolerate a scoop or two without significant symptoms.
2. Mellorine isn’t necessarily lactose-free. The defining feature of mellorine is that milk fat is replaced with vegetable fat, not that dairy ingredients are eliminated. Many mellorine formulations still contain skim milk, milk solids, whey, or lactose. So switching from ice cream to mellorine doesn’t automatically make the product suitable for someone with lactose intolerance.
3. Economics was the dominant factor. Historically, the Philippines has had limited domestic dairy production and has relied heavily on imported milk powders and butterfat. Vegetable oils—particularly coconut and palm oils, which are readily available in the region—offered manufacturers a less expensive source of fat while still producing a creamy frozen dessert. That made mellorine attractive from a production and pricing standpoint, regardless of consumers’ ability to digest lactose.

Ironically, if lactose intolerance had been the primary concern, manufacturers would likely have developed dairy-free frozen desserts rather than mellorine. Modern vegan ice creams made from coconut, oat, almond, or soy bases are examples of this approach. Traditional mellorine, by contrast, often still contains dairy proteins and lactose—it simply substitutes vegetable fat for milk fat.