Dairy Queen doesn’t refer to its ice cream as such because it’s not really ice cream. According to the FDA, ice cream must contain at least 10% milkfat and DQ only has 5%.

Ingredients include milkfat and nonfat milk, sugar, corn syrup, whey, mono and diglycerides, artificial flavor, guar gum, polysorbate 80, carrageenan, and vitamin A palmitate.

The addition of carrageenan might sway some people because of its reputation, but it is not harmful to humans. However, those with existing issues should be mindful.

There are more ingredients than expected, but they are all FDA-approved. With all the ingredients, the chain isn’t legally allowed to call it ice cream, so it is “soft serve.”