For some desi kids, cream biscuits are their entire childhood. Two layers of biscuits with cream filled in between were our breakfast, evening snacks, and even those late-night guilty treats.
However, for some, leaving those cream-filled biscuits behind in childhood is not an option, many still happily indulge in them.
But what if we told you that the cream in these cream biscuits isn't actually cream? Well, according to a now viral video, that's exactly the case.
'A Cocktail Of Dalda And Preservatives'
According to the video, the cream biscuits we eat, and which sell for a fraction of the price, are actually a mix of Dalda, flavourings, and preservatives. The video shows a variety of cream biscuits with different coloured fillings, questioning the authenticity of what we've long believed to be "cream."
"That is not cream but hydrogenated fat or oil," the video states. It goes on to show the process of making the filling, which involves mixing hydrogenated fat or oil, sugar, preservatives, and artificial flavourings. Various ingredients are blended together, emphasising that this so-called "cream" is far from anything dairy-based.
"Remember it when you eat it next time," reads the caption ominously.
Unlike other food items, cream biscuits now seem to be the latest everyday snack under fire for their ingredient lists.
Is It True?
We checked the ingredient lists of three popular cream biscuits and found that the "cream" in sandwich biscuits is indeed not dairy-based but a mix of hydrogenated vegetable oils (like Dalda or palm oil), sugar, artificial flavours, and preservatives - no actual cream.
For instance, a breakdown of the most viral one, Britannia Milk Bikis Cream, showed us that it mainly contains refined wheat flour, sugar, edible vegetable oil (palm), and interesterified vegetable fat. The only thing remotely close to "milk" appears to be the milk solids listed in the ingredients, which simply refer to non-water components of milk such as fat, protein, lactose, and minerals.
Britannia Milk Bikis Cream ingredients list. Photo: Amazon
We also looked at Bourbon's Creme Biscuit with Chocolate. The top ingredients? Refined wheat flour (maida), sugar (33%), refined oils (palm and palmolein), and artificial colours.
Bourbon's Creme Biscuit ingredients list. Photo: Britannia
Moving on to Oreo cream biscuits, their ingredient list also includes refined wheat flour, sugar, edible vegetable fat, palmolein, invert sugar, and cocoa solids.
Oreo cream biscuits ingredient list. Photo: Cadbury
So the next time nostalgia has you reaching out for that cream biscuit, just know what you're actually biting into. It may remind you of childhood, but what's inside is far from innocent.