A FISH that lives in the North Atlantic is being used to create ice-cream that can be eaten without fear of putting on weight.

Using GM technology, the blood of the ocean pout, an eel-like fish, has been used to create a protein that will cut the fat and calories in some leading brands of ice-cream.

Unilever, which owns Wall’s, Magnum, Carte D’Or and Ben & Jerry’s, has applied to the Food Standards Agency for permission to use the protein in a range of ice-creams and frozen fruit-ices. It may be 2008, however, before lovers of ice-cream can devour the food without piling on the pounds.

The protein is not the GM “Frankenstein food” that has been heavily criticised by environmental and health campaigners. This technology leaves no edible traces of GM material in the finished process — rather like the use of vegetarian rennet in cheese. The gene used in the yeast protein has been developed through GM technology but there is no yeast in the final product.

But campaigners are concerned that manufacturers may be trying to introduce GM processes by stealth in the hope of making GM foods acceptable to consumers. They also say that the move is at odds with a country battling with obesity and where parents are demanding that their children eat more natural, fresh and unprocessed foods.

Jane Landon, deputy chief executive of the National Heart Forum, said: “There is a clear danger that by offering low-fat versions of standard products such as ice-cream it might suggest you can eat as much as you like. We are rather sceptical”

Clare Oxborrow, of Friends of the Earth, suggested that the main benefit was for the company to produce ice-cream more easily and cheaply.

“Multinational food companies should make better use of their research budgets to produce healthy, natural and nutritious foods that people really want to eat.”

A Sustain spokesman added: “This all seems unnecessary — we’ve got low-fat ice-cream already — it’s called sorbet.”

But Unilever said that people who liked to eat ice-cream would have the option of healthier alternatives. “We think this is a great opportunity because people want to eat lower-fat products but don’t want to sacrifice taste. This will allow us to do this.

“The protein is already allowed in the United States and is being used in the Breyers choc ice sticks.”

The company could not say how much fat would be in the new range of ice-cream in Britain, but a Breyers light choc ice has half the fat of a standard bar and 30 per cent fewer calories.

SEA FOOD

A concerted attempt was made in the United States during the Second World War to market ocean pout for food as fish fillets, partly as a war measure. This was so successful that almost 1,800 tons were reported landed in the port of Massachusetts in 1943

Times Recommends

• An officer and a gentle woman
• Dame Helen Mirren is worthy of the Epidaurus
• Foods that can help to prevent swine flu