Tyra Banks's 'hot ice cream' went viral. Don't expect to see it called that anymore

When Tyra Banks launched her new dessert "Hot Ice Cream" in Sydney, it raised a lot of questions. Chief among them: what is it?

The supermodel called her cryptic innovation in dessert technology an "ice cream that you can drink".

"I'm not talking about a latte; I'm not talking about hot chocolate that has flavours," Banks declared of the drink, officially branded "Hot Mama".

She told news.com.au that "it's not melted gelato, it's not microwaved ice cream … it's not a latte, it's not crème anglaise".

But something bugged me. How can you call something ice cream if it's not iced?

Getting to the bottom of whether "Hot Ice Cream" is, for legal purposes, actually ice cream, took me on a surprising journey that has led to Banks's SMiZE & DREAM ice cream shop abandoning the ice cream labelling entirely.

While Banks was happy to rule things out, she has always been coy on what Hot Ice Cream is.

Reviews have variously said it "tasted like soggy biscuits", "was lukewarm at best, like a forgotten cup of tea", and was "a weird sensation to sip through a straw".

Regardless of its taste, words have meanings.

And in the case of ice cream, it's not just a dictionary definition.

What is ice cream?

It might shock you to learn that all foods sold in Australia must meet a set of standards, and they can be extremely specific.

Jam must contain at least 650g per kilo of water-soluble solids and may not be marmalade. It's not an electrolyte drink if it has less than 10 mmol/L of sodium. Peanut butter is any peanut-based spread that is at least 85 per cent peanuts.

Ice cream has a definition too: "Ice cream means a sweet frozen food that is made from cream or milk products or both, and other foods, and is generally aerated."

It is also required to contain at least 100 grams per kilogram of milk fat, and 168 grams per litre of food solids.

Banks's product isn't frozen. So how can SMiZE & DREAM sell it as ice cream?

I put that question late last year to the NSW Food Authority, which is the state regulator of the national standards.

It dispatched an inspector to SMiZE & DREAM, who found that, for the most part, Hot Mama was not being sold in-store as ice cream.

"Investigations into labelling of the Hot Mama product found no labelling reference to ice cream, although the in-store ordering application does refer to ice cream," a spokesperson said.

"The NSW Food Authority is liaising with the business to ensure their ordering system removes reference to ice cream where it is not included."

After I followed up this week, the department said a second investigation found "the initial warning letter was received by the business but not provided to management", but that changes have since been made and the product name has been changed to "Hot SMiZE Cream".

The store has also committed to moving to plain packaging once it runs out of its existing stock of "hot ice cream"-labelled cups.

While the NSW Food Authority said it had no authority to order changes to the SMiZE & DREAM website because it is "an international site", the shop has this month also removed references to ice cream online.

In a statement to ABC News, the store said it decided to "transition the product name" to "lean further into our brand voice".

"Much of our customers’ conversation centred on the experience itself and on playful references to 'smizing' (smiling with your eyes)," the company said.

"SMiZE & DREAM takes food labelling and marketing obligations seriously and have worked with advisors to ensure our customer facing information is clear and accurate."

I also asked the department if the inspector tried Hot Mama themself and, if so, what they thought of it. The department, perhaps wisely, chose to ignore that question.

'People don't put a lot of thought into what they put in their mouth'

Sharon Givoni, a lawyer who advises businesses on the food standards, says that while SMiZE & DREAM has changed its marketing in this case, there is a gap in the law in online food sales and marketing.

"[The] gap in the food standards code is that it looks at the labelling and packaging," Givoni says.

Givoni says rules for online advertising are being considered by the federal governments Food Regulation Standing Committee, "but that could take some time to come around".

While Hot Ice Cream was unlikely to cause any serious food safety concerns, Givoni says the growing number of viral food products can create confusion for consumers.

"There is a whole lot of weird and wonderful and novel foods coming up … people are definitely stretching definitions," she says.

Givoni says the code helps ensure consistency, so consumers know what to expect when they buy something, and helps consumers make decisions around health and nutrition, including allergens.

"People want to know what they buy when they're paying for something.

"If someone with allergies can't see the true ingredients online, and they see a label that has a common meaning, they may end up going to that place, eating it and eating something dangerous.

"It's a real risk, because sometimes people don't put a lot of thought into everything they put in their mouth."

Givoni says that the law allows for some "puffery" in advertising, or what we might ordinarily call exaggeration.

"But once it gets to something objective like a description, it can't be false," she says.

After a viral marketing campaign selling "hot ice cream" the question remains: do consumers buying Hot Mama think they're buying ice cream?