DontMessWithOurChocolate.com - Maintaining Chocolate Standards

For years there has been a "gold" standard for chocolate manufacturers in the chocolate industry. This standard helps to identify high quality chocolate from poorer versions, based largely on the content of cocoa butter. Large manufacturers have made a proposal to the Food and Drug Administration to change this definition of how much pure cocoa butter (the expensive stuff) is required in their recipes to enable them to categorize it as high quality/couverture chocolate. The motivating force behind the change is money because ingredients such as vegetable oil are a lot cheaper to add than cocoa butter is. If the FDA allows this change, it will drastically affect the quality of all our chocolate.

The chocolatier, Guittard, has established a website to save chocolate. To prevent large manufacturers from changing the high quality standards, Guittard has set up a link with instructions on how to voice your comment to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Protect the chocolate that you love. The deadline for submissions has been extended to June 25, 2007.

Tagged as: [ chocolate fda standards ]