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FDA Considers Redefining Chocolate

Posted by kdawson on from the this-means-war dept.

shewfig writes "The US Food and Drug Administration is considering redefining 'chocolate' to allow substitution of vegetable oil ($0.70/lb.) for cocoa butter ($2.30/lb.), and whey protein for dry whole milk. There are already standard terms to differentiate these products from chocolate, such as 'chocolatey' and 'chocolate-flavored.' The change was requested by the industry group Chocolate Manufacturers of America. Leading the resistance to this change is high-end chocolate maker Guittard, with significant grass-roots support from the Candyblog. The FDA is taking consumer comments until April 25. Here is the FDA page on the proposed change, which oddly enough does not say what the proposed change is."

3 of 939 comments (clear)

  1. Re: There is already crud in the chocolate. by transporter_ii · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Also, among the already mentioned items, there is a lot of pesticides in it:

    News Flash! Source: AllAfrica News (West Africa Business)

    "Cocoa Production, Employment, Shot Up By Mass Spraying - Jun 12 2003 Available data convincingly proves that Ghana's Cocoa Diseases and Pests Control project (CODAPEC), commonly known as the Mass Spraying Exercise, has tremendously improved the yield of cocoa, which remains one of the most important foreign exchange earners."1

    [P]esticide residues routinely turn up in chocolate products sold in the USA5 and Europe.6 For as long as the leaders in the chocolate industry refuse to acknowledge that a pesticide problem exists, we have no hope of finding (or even looking for) a realistic solution to that problem.

    see: http://www.tava.com.au/article_chemicals.html

    I first ran into this in the book Diet for a Poisoned Planet. Peanuts and Chocolate were among the most contaminated foods in the American diet. Chocolate was high because it is imported from a lot of countries that do not have as tough of laws as we do (and ironically, they buy a lot of the chemicals from us!).

    transporter_ii

    --
    Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
  2. Codex Alimentarius standards seem to match US by Animats · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The Codex Alimentarius, the international standards body for food, has a standard for chocolate. They require >35% cocoa solids for "chocolate". And they limit other fats:

    "The addition of vegetable fats other than cocoa butter shall not exceed 5% of the finished product, after deduction of the total weight of any other added edible foodstuffs, without reducing the minimum contents of cocoa materials. Where required by the authorities having jurisdiction, the nature of the vegetable fats permitted for this purpose may be prescribed in applicable legislation.

    What are the numbers in the FDA proposal?

  3. Re:SunnyD isn't orange juice.... ORLY? YARLY!! by WiFiBro · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The um.. stuff available UK shops fooled me once with the packaging, with them oranges on the package and some fake 'pure' and 'natural' phrases, then the smack in the face when drinking it learned me Skinner-style to avoid that sort of packages forever. Later I had to learn it again in the Czech republic.

    In the early 20th century Dutch government passed a law to forbid calling margarine butter (even the Dutch word for peanutbutter translates to 'peanutcheese' because of that law!). So why not keeping 'chocolate' real and invent something new for these industrial bullies. Like we can buy have 'Cocoa fantasy' flakes for on the bread.