# FDA Could Change Chocolate!



## aguynamedrobert (Apr 2, 2007)

There is proposed change in standard of what "Chocolate" is being reviewed by the FDA right now.  What this proposed FDA law would do is make it so that up to 100% of the cocoa butter in chocolate could be replaced by vegetable fats and they could still call it Chocolate! So when you buy a bar of "fine chocolate" there would be a possibility that there is vegetable fats in it and not cocoa butter. 

Cocoa butter is important because of the way it melts. If this change occurs the companies that use vegetable fats will have chocolate that will have a horrible melting property and ruin the taste and feel of the chocolate. 

This law will confuse people on what real chocolate is in a time when people WANT REAL CHOCOLATE! 

So write in to the FDA! All the instructions are on the link below and it only takes a minute. Go tell them that you don't want to allow vegetable oils in Chocolate!

Don't Mess With Our Chocolate

Robert Noel
Chocolate Guild :: The Chocolate Connoisseur's Home Base


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## Uncle Bob (Apr 2, 2007)

Robert...

Who is the "lobby" behind such a change? Who benefits? 
The people who stand to gain are the ones who need tapping on the shoulder by the consumer.


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## aguynamedrobert (Apr 2, 2007)

The CMA "Chocolate Manufacturers Association" is lobbying it to the FDA...Most of the Manufacturers apart of that association are big manufacturers and would bennfit to be able to call more of their products chocolate.  But the FDA is hearing all consumers till April 26th and what they have to say about it so write in if you can...

Robert Noel
Chocolate Guild :: The Chocolate Connoisseur's Home Base


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## PA Baker (Apr 3, 2007)

Thanks, Robert.  I hadn't heard about this--how terrible!  I'll be sure to look at the site.


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## bethzaring (Apr 3, 2007)

Oh No, the margarine of chocolate......YUCK......


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## Katie H (Apr 3, 2007)

That is just soooooo NOT RIGHT!!  They'll hear from me for sure.


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## aguynamedrobert (Apr 3, 2007)

Great!  Thanks for everyone getting involved...let the FDA know you want your chocolate real...

Have a good one,
Robert Noel
Chocolate Guild :: The Chocolate Connoisseur's Home Base
Chocolatier Noël - Gourmet Chocolate Tastings


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## Quadlex (Apr 5, 2007)

How do they propose to make things taste like chocolate if there's no cocoa in them at all?  And, why would there be a DECREASE in purity, when common opinion and strategy is going the other way?

As far as I can see it, the FDA would be in gross breech of their duties if they approve that foods are labelled according to their chemical flavourings, not their constitution.


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## lulu (Apr 5, 2007)

I seem to remember that this is already the case with UK (cheap/big brand) chocolate? They did taste tests on the continent where it is not so and people liked the UK one of the same brand better, rofl. I am happy to be corrected though if this is no longer the case in the UK!


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## aguynamedrobert (Apr 5, 2007)

The Uk allows up to 5% vegetable fat in a chocolate bar at the pressent moment...this new law in the USA would allow ALL the fat in chocolate to be vegetable oil...

Have a great day,
Robert Noel
Chocolate Guild :: The Chocolate Connoisseur's Home Base


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## lulu (Apr 5, 2007)

Oh, wow, thanks for explaining the difference!....what is currently allowed in USA?


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## Jeekinz (Apr 5, 2007)

The truth is, some dumb *** politician's cousin is in the vegetable fat business, and needs some more money.

Just goes to show, no matter who gets in, Rep., Dem, black, white, male or female.....they all VACUUM!


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## CherryRed (Apr 5, 2007)

Ughhh yuck! That's an awful idea. I'll tell you this though, they're going to have a lot of angry PMS-ing women after them if they do make the change.


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## aguynamedrobert (Apr 5, 2007)

Lulu,
What is currently allowed in the USA is NO VEGETABLE FAT AT ALL!  Only cocoa butter and a small amount of butter oil(milk fat).  Nothing else...so it is a huge jump to allow a complete replacement of cocoa butter for vegetable oil.  I really think the standard needs to stay where it is at...

Haha...cherryred...I was laughing when I read your comment...you should send that statement to the FDA....

Robert Noel
Chocolate Guild :: The Chocolate Connoisseur's Home Base


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## aguynamedrobert (Apr 5, 2007)

Hey Everybody,
Here is a link to the video that CBS 5 did on this proposal...They interviewed myself and Gary Guittard and showed it on the 6 oclock news...they messed up on how much vegetable oil will be allowed in the new definition of "chocolate" but check it out...

cbs5.com - Video Library

Robert Noel
Chocolate Guild :: The Chocolate Connoisseur's Home Base


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## Jackson (Apr 9, 2007)

Katie E said:
			
		

> That is just soooooo NOT RIGHT!!  They'll hear from me for sure.


I feel thats not fair.....Well lets all 

hope something good occur......cheers!!



------------------
Gourmet   Chocolate


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## aguynamedrobert (Apr 23, 2007)

Just 2 more days to write into the FDA!  So if you haven't and you still want to then now is the time...
Don't Mess With Our Chocolate 
Have a great day,
Robert
Chocolate Guild :: The Chocolate Connoisseur's Home Base


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## jasonr (May 2, 2007)

What difference does it make?

If you bake with "Baker's" brand chocolate or some such trash, then it can't get any worse.

And if you bake with quality chocolate like Callebaut or Lindt, then it doesn't matter either, because no quality brand is going to start putting vegetable oil in their chocolate anyway, right?


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## aguynamedrobert (May 3, 2007)

Well that decision would be completely up to that brand/company wether they replace the cocoa butter with Vegetable oil.  YOu could  very well go to buy some Bakers one day and find that it is ALL hydrogenated vegetable oil...same with Callebaut or Lindt(Lindt already isn't very top notch anyway so I would suspect they "might" use this to their advantage...

Robert
Chocolate Guild :: The Chocolate Connoisseur's Home Base


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## jasonr (May 5, 2007)

> Well that decision would be completely up to that brand/company wether they replace the cocoa butter with Vegetable oil. YOu could very well go to buy some Bakers one day and find that it is ALL hydrogenated vegetable oil...same with Callebaut or Lindt(Lindt already isn't very top notch anyway so I would suspect they "might" use this to their advantage...



Well, if brand X switches to vegetable oil, then I'll just switch to brand Y. Even if a company like, say, Lindt, makes the switch, so what? Then you just use El Ray or Scharffen Berger or Valhrona...

Any high-end brand dumb enough to pull a stunt like this will simply go out of business.

As for brands like Bakers, who cares what thet put in their chocolate? Nothing could possibly make  it any worse than it is.


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## Uncle Bob (May 5, 2007)

Seems the deadline has been extended to June 25 to contact the FDA. Could it be "they" are listening??


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## bethzaring (May 5, 2007)

jasonr said:
			
		

> As for brands like Bakers, who cares what thet put in their chocolate? Nothing could possibly make it any worse than it is.


 

Well I care, I REALLY care.  I just hate to see good food degraded like that.  If it were on the market, folks might think it was an acceptable product.


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## aguynamedrobert (Apr 4, 2008)

Hello Everyone,
As you have read about the recent struggle with the FDA to keep chocolate the way it is you might be interested in seeing the man who spearheaded this whole movement against the change...

This link will show you a video of Gary Guittard giving a chocolate tasting at COPIA in Napa California.  Check it out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzZW2MeAcdg

Have a great day...


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## PanchoHambre (Apr 4, 2008)

jasonr said:


> What difference does it make?
> 
> If you bake with "Baker's" brand chocolate or some such trash, then it can't get any worse.
> 
> And if you bake with quality chocolate like Callebaut or Lindt, then it doesn't matter either, because no quality brand is going to start putting vegetable oil in their chocolate anyway, right?


 
Actually it matters alot. 

If I buy a product labled "Juice" or "olive oil" I want to know it is actaully what I think it is and not some other synthetic inferior or cheaper product.

Likewise with chocolate...Something should be called "Chocolate Flavored" not Pure Chocolate if it is not.

Honesty in labeling is important to be able to be an informed consumer and make choices.

And it is not just in raw materials you buy to cook with. this would allow the ingredient list on products you buy to be less than accurate.


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## BBQ Mikey (Apr 4, 2008)

They have been "cutting" chocolate with veggie fats for quite some time now, and labeling it as chocolate.  I agree it should be labeled as "Chocolate Flavored" .


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Apr 4, 2008)

Actually, and correct me if I'm wrong, chocolate flavor comes from the roasted nibs, which are turned into cocoa and cocoa powder.  Teh chocolate butter is the nearly flavorless fat that has the specific characteristcs that make tempered chocolate possible.  The taste difference will be minimal if can be discernable at all.  But the textural quality will suffer greatly.  And the hydrogenated fats are more damaging to the body than is cocoa butter.

When you think of cocoa butter, remember that it is put into soaps, skin creams, and tanning lotions.  It is what gives wite chocolate its texture, but has nothing to do with the flavor of either white or brown chocolates.

Even with that said, I will be one of the many who contacts the FDA to ask that the standards remain as they are.  I like real chocolate, made with real cocoa butter.  Texture is every bit as important as is taste in good chocolate.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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## aguynamedrobert (Apr 4, 2008)

To answer the two comments above...

1) BBQ Mikey - For ever anyone has been able to add vegetable fats to chocolate but they are not allowed by the FDA to call it chocolate.  It HAS to be called "chocolate flavored" or "Chocolate compound".  If a place isn't doing that then they are going against the FDA and the situation would be handled quickly.

2) Goodweed or the North - Thanks for your comments.  Anyone would assume the same thing as you did.  As I would have. Now, try chocolate compound or "chocolate flavored chocolate" side by side with real chocolate.  You will for sure be able to tell them apart.  This is because cocoa butter actually carrys the flavors of the cocoa solids.  If we replace the cocoa butter with vegetable fats then the flavor is portrayed far different and the full flavor does not come through.  The fat, surprisingly, does effect the flavor but in its own way. 

Have a great day everyone,


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Apr 5, 2008)

aguynamedrobert;  Thanks for the correction.  As I stated, though I know some of the characteristics of chocolate, I am by no means a pastry chef, or a chocolatier.  Thank you for the correction and the new-to-me information.  I know more now than I did when I posted.

Seeeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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## aguynamedrobert (Apr 5, 2008)

Well lets just say that I am not the smartest on chocolate either.  I have just learned from some of the smartest chocolate people in the world.  I humbly learn alongside of you...

Have a great weekend,


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## Russellkhan (Apr 5, 2008)

Quadlex said:


> How do they propose to make things taste like chocolate if there's no cocoa in them at all?


There still needs to be cocoa - what they would be replacing is the cocoa butter. 



> And, why would there be a DECREASE in purity, when common opinion and strategy is going the other way?


The lobby group is made up of companies like Nestle & Hershey (not absolutely sure both of these companies are involved as it was awhile ago that I read about this, but it was this type of company), not the companies that make fine chocolates, but the giant corps that make tons of money on so-so candies that contain chocolate.

Russ


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## AMSeccia (Apr 5, 2008)

Is there some reason people find the need to mess with a good thing?  Thanks for the link, let's hope we make a difference.


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## jasonr (May 4, 2008)

I just can't get upset about it. Those chocolate morsels you use to make your chocolate chip cookies of course do the same thing; substituting vegetable oil for some of the cocoa butter is how they maintain their shape when they bake. I never heard anyone complain about classic Tollhouse cookies, or demand that they not be called "chocolate". In any event, in my opinion, as long as you have some cocoa butter and some cocoa solids, then by definition, you have chocolate. 

In any event, the market for quality chocolate has exploded in the past 5-10 years. Not very long ago, if you wanted decent chocolate, you had to buy it mail order or go to a very few handful of specialty shops. Now I can buy Valhrona bars at my local drug store, right next to the Doritos and the canned pop.

I think Lindt was a real pioneer in this area, since they were the first ones to make fine chocolate mainstream like this.

Far from getting worse, the quality and quantity of good chocolate has just gotten better and better. 

So people who want real chocolate will continue to use the good stuff. Even if you're on a budget and can't afford those brands, it's unlikely that even the low-end brands like Bakers are going to risk their market by using vegetable oil. Even the people I know who use Bakers would probably switch if they bastardized their product.

It seems to me, this will only affect the candy-bar market. But so what? The court of public taste will render a verdict. If the product still tastes good, people will buy it. If it doesn't taste good, then people will not buy it and the candy-bar companies will lose money. If I'm eating a Hershey bar (I love the Hershey with almonds!) then I'm not doing it to savour some deep sophisticated chocolate taste anyway; it's for a sweet childish treat.


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## aguynamedrobert (May 4, 2008)

Hello Jason,
Now when it comes to chocolate chips you are not going to find vegetable oil in any of them unless they do not say "chocolate" on them.  They will say "chocolate flavored" or something close to that.  Nestle Tollhouse cookies actually do not have vegetable oil in them.  They are real chocolate.  The reason "Real Chocolate" chip cookies hold their shape pretty well in baked goods is that they have less cocoa butter.  Of course the cocoa butter is what melts so this makes the melting process slower and easier to hold its shape.

Have a good one everybody,


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