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Are Chocolate "Standards of Identity" the Same Around the World?

  
     
 

Different “Standards of Identity” exist for chocolate around the world. The current American “Gold Standard” has officially been in existence since standards were first documented over sixty years ago (in 1944) by the US Food and Drug Administration.

 

Members of the American chocolate industry – the Chocolate Manufacturers Association or CMA -- have historically been staunch supporters of U.S. Standards of Identity. The core belief has been that their longevity and success in the chocolate business has been derived from a reputation for producing high quality products that consumers know and trust.

  

A number of traditional chocolatiers are very concerned that if a recent “Citizens Petition” submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration by the Grocery Manufacturers Association (on behalf of a number of trade associations, including the US Chocolate Manufacturers Association) is approved, the chocolate that consumers know and love will disappear from the American market place. Instead of purchasing chocolate made only with 100 percent cocoa butter, consumers will be faced with an ever-increasing selection of lower quality “chocolate” products made with hydrogenated and chemically-modified vegetable fats -- many containing artery-clogging trans fats, manufactured solely for the purpose of cutting production costs.

 

It should be noted that in many countries around the world, the chocolate standards of identity permit the substitution of vegetable fats for cocoa butter…but only up to a level of 5 percent. However, the “Citizens Petition” submitted by the Grocery Manufacturers Association would permit manufacturers to use these substitute vegetable fats (some of which are chemically modified) up to 100 percent in their replacement of cocoa butter. This request goes far beyond any other standards used in the world and would further degrade the quality of US chocolate that we all have come to love and enjoy.