Supermarket ices lick posh rivals

They are billed as the ice creams for epicures and millions are spent on advertising and brand image. But the king and queen of the deep freeze have failed to impress the experts.

Haagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry's have been labelled "average" in a blind tasting. A panel of ice cream lovers and experts found the American makes melted away in the face of stiff competition from supermarket own-brand products.

Top of the list were Safeway's The Best range, Waitrose's range and Green and Black's Organic desserts. Even Asda's Really Creamy Chocolate proved popular with the judges.

But giants Haagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry's - which dominate the stands at summer events and use sensual ads - were described as "all right but not really great".

The Consumers' Association Which? Magazine, which carried out the research, decided splashing out on expensive ice cream was not always necessary.

Editor Helen Parker said: "If you want to indulge in the tastiest ice creams, forget Haagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry's and try some of the supermarkets' luxury brands instead. Our tasters found that ice cream from Waitrose, Safeway and Green & Black's licked the competition."

Ben & Jerry's and Haagen-Dazs are two of the most expensive ice creams on the market, costing 92p to 95p for 125ml, compared with the 62p charged by Waitrose and 70p by Safeway. But they make up just three per cent of the market in Britain.

Which? Magazine also included healthy ice creams in the taste test but these failed to impress. Most were found to be too sweet because the fat that was removed was replaced with sugar - up to seven teaspoons in each serving. According to the panel, a winning ice cream should have a good appearance and texture and a natural, identifiable but not overpowering flavour.

The tasters - three ice cream lovers and three experts, including an author of books about ice cream and a chef - tried 12 luxury vanilla ice creams, 13 luxury chocolate and 11 "healthy" alternatives.

The vanilla ice creams voted the worst were Asda's Really Creamy Vanilla, which tasted "artificial", and Mackies Traditional, which was "cheap and bland-tasting".