A fashionable low-calorie ice cream may contain traces of milk despite being called dairy free, prompting anger among allergy sufferers who describe its labelling as “misleading and confusing”.

Halo Top Creamery, a Los Angeles-based firm founded by a former US lawyer, produces two flavours of dairy-free ice-cream - peanut butter cup and sea salt caramel - but critics say there is a risk these in fact contain traces of milk, putting those with severe dairy allergies at risk.

While they are promoted as ‘dairy-free’, the small print on the label carries a disclaimer stating: “This product has been processed on equipment that sometimes processes other tree nuts, milk, eggs, wheat and peanuts”.

This means the ice-cream may potentially contain enough minute traces of dairy to affect someone with a severe allergy.

The Food Standards Agency has now said there is a danger that customers could be misled by terms such as ‘dairy free’ and urged consumers who are confused by packaging claims to complain either to the manufacturer or to the local authority where they bought the item to begin action to force a change to the labelling.

Allergy sufferers have said anyone with an allergy who failed to properly read or understand the small print on Halo Top’s ‘dairy free’ range could be in danger.