(caseins and whey proteins) and carbohydrates (lactose) found in milk It generally also has: 12 to 16% sweeteners: usually a combination of sucrose and glucose-based corn syrup sweeteners 0.2 to 0.5% stabilizers and emulsifiers 55 to 64% water, which comes from the milk or other ingredients. These compositions are percentage by weight. Since ice cream can contain as much as half air by volume, these numbers may be reduced by as much as half if cited by volume. In terms of dietary considerations, the percentages by weight are more relevant. Even the low-fat products have high caloric content: Ben and Jerry's No-Fat Vanilla Fudge contains per half-cup due to its high sugar content. According to the Canadian Food and Drugs Act and Regulations, ice cream in Canada is divided into Ice cream mix and Ice cream. Each have a different set of regulations. Ice cream must be at least 10 percent milk fat, and must contain at least 180 grams of solids per litre. When cocoa, chocolate syrup, fruit, nuts, or confections are added, the percentage of milk fat can be 8 percent. The ice cream mix is defined as the pasteurized mix of cream, milk and other milk products that are not yet frozen. It may contain eggs, artificial or non-artificial flavours, cocoa or chocolate syrup, a food colour, an agent that adjusts the pH level in the mix, salt, a stabilizing agent that doesn't exceed 0.5% of the ice cream mix, a sequestering agent which preserves the food colour, edible casein that doesn't exceed 1% of the mix, propylene glycol mono fatty acids in an amount that will not exceed 0.35% of the ice cream mix, and sorbitan tristearate in an amount that will not exceed 0.035% of the mix. The ice cream mix may not include less than 36% solid components. Physical properties Ice cream is considered a colloidal system. It is composed by ice cream crystals and aggregates, air that does not mix with the ice cream by forming small bubbles in the bulk and partially coalesced fat globules. This dispersed phase made from all the small particles is surrounded by an unfrozen continuous phase composed by sugars, proteins, salts, polysaccharides and water. Their interactions determine the properties of ice cream, whether soft and whippy or hard. Ostwald ripening Ostwald ripening is the explanation for the growth of large crystals at the expense of small ones