Chocolate, Money, and Romance
Chocolate Purists Alarmed by Proposal To Fudge Standards
Lines Drawn Over Cocoa Butter
By Michael S. Rosenwald
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 27, 2007; Page A01
Rarely do documents making their way through federal agencies cause chocolate lovers to totally melt down. Then came Appendix C.
Accompanying a 35-page petition signed by a diverse set of culinary groups — juice producers, meat canners and the chocolate lobby — the appendix charts proposed changes to food standard definitions set by the Food and Drug Administration, including this one: "use a vegetable fat in place of another vegetable fat named in the standard (e.g., cacao fat)."
Chocolate lovers read that as a direct assault on their palates. That's because the current FDA standard for chocolate says it must contain cacao fat — a.k.a. cocoa butter — and this proposal would make it possible to call something chocolate even if it had vegetable oil instead of that defining ingredient. Whoppers malted milk balls, for instance, do not have cocoa butter.
Chocolate purists, of which there are apparently many, have undertaken a grassroots letter-writing campaign to the FDA to inform the agency that such a change to the standards is just not okay with them. More than 225 comments to the petition have been processed so far by the agency, and chocolate bloggers are pressing for more. In the annals of bureaucratic Washington battles, this is a sweet one.
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If the food industry has its way you'll soon be able to give your sweetheart a nice box of "chocolate" that is cheaper but doesn't quite taste the same. That's not what I consider to be romantic.The FDA is currently considering changes to the definition of chocolate. Chocolate makers have proposed replacing the cocoa butter and milk that gives you are Godiva great taste with vegetable oil and powdered milk. Of course, it's to save money and increase profits.If, like me, you know that your sweetheart loves chocolate, you have a chance to do something about it. Visit dontmesswithourchocolate.com and follow the instructions to voice your objections to the proposed changes.For years cards, flowers and chocolate have spoken romance to our loved ones. If the FDA doesn't act to keep the definition of chocolate as we all know it, your message of love might get garbled.
