Terrifying Chinese ice cream doesn’t seem to melt in viral video

A viral video of an expensive ice treat not seeming to melt when exposed to a lighter has a Chinese company under fire.

In the video, which has been viewed 500 million times on the popular Chinese website Weibo, a person holds a lighter up to the pricey popsicle and it seems not to thaw, according to the South China Morning Post.

People who saw the post questioned what was in the $10 popsicle. Other videos that circulated showed the ice cream seeming to stay solid in an 88-degree room and under a blowtorch.

“What’s it made out of that it can be that sturdy?” one person asked on social media, according to the DailyStar.

Dubbed the “Hermès of Ice Cream” due to its products’ high prices, Shanghai-based Chicecream — known as Zhong Xue Gao in Chinese — has stated “that all of its products are in line with quality standards set by China’s national authority,” according to the South China Morning Post.

In a statement released on Weibo, the company claimed: “The main components of the baysalt coconut-flavored ice cream are milk, single cream, coconut pulp, condensed milk and milk powder. Forty per cent of this ice cream is solid materials.”

The ingredient in question is carrageenans, a seaweed extract, that some studies have suggested cause health problems and perhaps even cancer, although the South China Morning Post noted that it is “debatable” that it causes cancer.

The company has stated carrageenans are widely used in ice cream and beverages.

“The carrageenan gum helps the milk proteins maintain stability,” they said.

Consumers still aren’t completely convinced of how safe their basalt coconut ice cream actually is and why it’s so expensive. 

“They’ve added flame-retardants to the ice cream — no wonder it costs that much,” another social media comment read.

However, the company continues to go after nay-sayers.

“We believe that it is not scientific to judge the quality of ice cream by baking, drying or heating ice cream,” the brand said in a Weibo post that scooped up over 168,000 likes.