EU Court: No Such Thing As 'Pure Chocolate'

BRUSSELS — There is no such thing as "pure chocolate," the EU high court ruled Thursday, ending an EU-Italy food fight over chocolate labels.

The ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union voided an Italian law that recognizes some delicacies as "pure chocolate."

The court said if a product is made from 100 percent cocoa butter, that fact must be listed on the ingredients table only. It also said the EU's 1999 chocolate labeling rules make no room for a "pure chocolate" reference like the one Italy enacted in a 2003 law.

Once vegetable fats are included in the production of chocolate – a popular practice in some EU nations, notably Britain – then the label must say, "contains vegetable fats in addition to cocoa butter," the court said.

The EU labeling rules took effect in 1999 after a lively debate pitting countries like Britain – where chocolate usually contains a substitute vegetable fats – against purists like Belgium, Italy and others, where traditionalist chocolate makers use only cocoa butter.

EU spokesman Roger Waite welcomed Thursday's court ruling, saying the EU rules pursue a fair balance between Europe's two different chocolate cultures.

"There is the culture of chocolate made purely from cocoa butter and there is the culture in a number of EU member states – including the United Kingdom – where there are other vegetable fats used," he said.

In 1999, all EU nations agreed "there would be something on the label making clear whether it's pure cocoa butter" or not, said Waite.

He said it was agreed to stick to the name chocolate but to let the ingredients indicate the quality of the chocolate.

"This is where the Italian rules are not in conformity," he added.

The European Commission had sued Italy, saying the EU law aims to inform consumers in a neutral way about the quality of chocolate on the basis of its ingredients.

Comments

[Dave Bee]

02:04 AM on 12/03/2010

i GET the ruling, because adding any ingredient beyond cocoa butter makes it not pure cocoa butter. I mean at the very least you have to add sugar. BUT the idea of the EU telling a soverign nation what it can and cant do just annoys me. Now I know these nations are so close to each other that the importing of goods makes these kinds of details important, but it still annoys me. Id tell the EU to sit on it.

[valeskas]

10:14 AM on 11/29/2010

Swiss chocolate like Lindt and German chocolate like Ritter Sport with full hazelnuts, gets me everytime. They just jump in my grocerycart and then in my mouth.

[cinemaven]

08:53 PM on 11/27/2010

I enjoy Swiss and Belgian chocolate but, as a Scottish girl, I have a soft spot for flakes, curly-wurlys, chocolate buttons, milky bars (and buttons), walnut whips and caramacs... and although British chocolate is a poor imitation of the decadent "pure" chocolate, it's still 100x better, richer and less chalky than our Canadian national brand (with the exception of the british imports) candy bars and 101x better than U.S. national brand candy bars. Luckily, in both Canada and the U.S., there are amazing choclatiers who use high quality ingredients so we're never lacking in the good stuff.

I have moved to eating mainly bars with 90% cacao now. It took me a while to work my way up the dark, bittersweet chocolate levels to really appreciate it but it's healthier and now, I love it ... but I do sometimes sneak in a one of my British faves or some milk chocolate gingers from the chocolate shop around the corner.

[datafox]

06:06 PM on 11/29/2010

People who do not like US chocolate, saying that is is worse than everyone else, is interesting because the US is the most strict about what is defined as chocolate. in the US a chocolate maker may not use vegetable oil in chocolate and still have it defined as chocolate.

[cinemaven]

06:26 PM on 11/29/2010

It's a hard thing to define but if you did a side by side taste test, you'd find that the US chocolate bars aren't as milky or rich.
Here's a list of ingredients for a real dairy milk (UK) and an American one made by Hershey's. You can see that milk is the first ingredient in the British bar and there are fewer ingredients. The British version uses veg. fat instead of cocoa butter so that might account for the taste and color variant.

I've sent some of my fave British bars to U.S. friends and they all agree that the British is richer and tastier. Can't get them to love ketchup potato chips though (a very Canadian flavor)

Cadbury Dairy Milk from Bournville, UK
Milk, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, vegetable fat, emulsifiers, flavorings.

Cadbury Dairy Milk from Hershey, USA
Sugar, milk, chocolate, cocoa butter, lactose, soy lecithin, PGPR, natural and artificial flavor.

[Freevo]

12:34 PM on 11/27/2010

Enjoy your "white chocolate", America. Cocoa butter + sugar and a lot of other unhealty stuff.

[Daisytoo]

06:41 PM on 11/27/2010

Those of us fortunate enough to live in the USA have a lot more variety than what you call 'white chocolate'. And hey, if you feel like eating cocoa w/out sugar, go for it.

[Freevo]

12:19 AM on 11/28/2010

I loves me some high grade organic free trade 55% or higher cocoa content chocolate bars easily found at healthy food stores. Often a percentage of sales goes to help endangered species, and preserve rainforests. There is something called white chocolate that is creamy white, with no dark cocoa; the only cocoa used in it is cocoa butter. A true travesty to call it "chocolate". I am grateful we have good chocolate readily accessible. And the higher the cocoa content, the less fat will be in it.

[Berlusca]

12:01 PM on 11/27/2010

Honestly, giving Brits a voice on defining chocolate would be a bit like letting Italians mandate EU-wide postage delivery times. You would get nasty bars of waxy, sugary, weirdly colored stuff arriving 3 months late. But since Italy doesn't deliver the European mail, you can have those nasty, plastic-y, cavity-producing bars anytime you want.

[Phyllis Swan]

10:59 PM on 11/26/2010

who knew...

[Goliadkin]

09:49 PM on 11/26/2010

Adding vegetable oils to chocolate pretty much ensures that your product is going to be trash. Chocolate should be made out of cacao butter and a little sugar and not much else. The result is "pure chocolate," and should be designated as such.

[feliznavidad]

09:06 AM on 11/27/2010

Indeed. The vegetable fats added to chocolates is what gives it that waxy feel. You also have to add more sugar to cover up the taste-- so these chocolates have more sugary taste --- and an aftertaste of sugar. Besides, the vegetable fats added cost one-tenth of the cocoa butter removed. There's a hefty profit motive. Worst, the cocoa butter is a naturally good for you fat, that helps stabalize blood sugars. The vegetable fats used are a health hazard, putting your hear and brain at risk. There's no comparison between 'pure' chocolate and 'mockolate.' A good chocolate, hand-crafted in the USA, and made with no vegetable fat can be found at www.dorothyscandies.com

[aDelphinium]

07:22 PM on 11/26/2010

This is the most comprehensive site on Chocolate. Unfortunately, it's probably one of the worst sites in terms of legibility and navigation.

http://www.xocoatl.org/caffeine.htm

[Ryan McAlister]

06:43 PM on 11/26/2010

Scientists for Mars candy company are working to create a genetically engineered chocolate, for your health, of course! I imagine a story like this is to predictively program the mASSes to accept some kind of non-food in the next five years or so..

[landskroon]

04:05 PM on 11/26/2010

Have you ever tried the british :"Fish and Chips" mostly full of black spots of burned remains, served in an old newspaper? Well, then you know what to expect of their chocolat.

[Pleroma]

02:49 PM on 11/26/2010

British and US markets are awash in ersatz products. Pure chocolate and real chocolate will become increasingly rare and fake names will abound.

Chocolate prices are going up!

[YankeeCanuck]

02:27 PM on 11/26/2010

Another benefit of extra-noir chocolate--it helps with the symptoms of high-altitude sickness, along with lots of water. No, it is not a complete "cure".

[slobone]

01:28 PM on 11/26/2010

Like those "chocolate" truffles that I bought, imported from France, where ingredient #1 was vegetable oil. I wonder if they could legally sell those in France?

[Pleroma]

02:45 PM on 11/26/2010

Odd sense of timing on reading that label. Did the "chocolate" taste greasy or waxy?

[KeepNIt2Real]

12:44 PM on 11/26/2010

Wonder what other "pure" or "truly organic" titles are going to get blown off the lid coming down the road?

[RobberBarons]

12:01 PM on 11/26/2010

Here's a small report on American Chocolates that might be of interest. Enjoy

http://www.xoxtruffles.com/framepage.htm