Louis Brandeis

“ The facts show that, in the absence of legislative regulation, the ordinary purchaser at retail does not and cannot know exactly what he is getting when he purchases ice cream. He presumably believes that cream or at least rich milk is among the important ingredients; and he may make his purchase with a knowledge that butter fat is the principal food value in cream or milk. Laws designed to prevent persons from being misled in respect to the weight, measurement, quality, or ingredients of an article of general consumption are a common exercise of the police power. ”

“ Plaintiffs in error contend that as ice cream is shown to be a generic term embracing a large number and variety of products, and the term as used does not necessarily imply the use of dairy cream in its composition, it is arbitrary and unreasonable to limit the ice cream of commerce to that containing a fixed minimum of butter fat. ”

“ To require that ice cream, in order to be legally salable, must contain some butter fat, is a regulation so unreasonable and arbitrary as to be a deprivation of property without due process of law and a denial of the equal protection of the laws. To support this contention the following trade facts are shown:
The ice cream of commerce is not iced or frozen cream. It is a frozen confection-a compound. The ingredients of this compound may vary widely in character, in the number used, and in the proportions in which they are used. ”