Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Chocolate Lovers Unite!
Dear chocolate lover:

I recently learned of an FDA proposal that is calling for a change to the standard of identity for chocolate. What does this mean? In a nutshell, the proposed change would allow 100% of the cocoa butter in chocolate to be replaced by vegetable fat substitutes (yes, that includes trans fats) as well as the ability to use milk substitutes in place of nutritonally-superior milk. And yet, large manufacturers could still label this inferior product chocolate. Why should you care? These changes will have adverse effects on the eating, physical and nutritional quality of your chocolate. The FDA needs to hear from consumers. You can preserve the quality of chocolate by visiting the following page and sending a comment to the FDA against the proposed changes. The deadline for comments is April 25th.

Sincerely,
Karalee LaRochelle
Pastry Chef + Chocolate Artisan
Cocoa Locoa Fine Chocolate
info@cocoalocoa.com

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you kidding? What is their reasoning behind this? We all like our vegetables & our health foods, but chocolate is a 'want', not a 'need'. There's just some things they can't mess with - this being one of them.

E.A. Aleksandroff, alias GT said...

Goodbye, good American chocolate. Wait...was there ever any? All the classic stuff like Hersheys and Reeses tasted like vegetable oil and substitutes already.

The Chocolate Nerd said...

It would be disasterous if chocolatiers are forced to convert to the new concoction to remain competitive. Hopefully, some will keep their high standards even if it has to cost the manufacturer and consumer a bit more. Yet, that's all we need. $100 dollar boxes of 75% dark as a standard!

E.A. Aleksandroff, alias GT said...

That's like worrying that wine makers would change their quality when major soda companies started using high fructose corn syrup instead of actual sugar. Honestly, it's a pointless legislation because so many people are into organic stuff and always read the ingredients, and artisanal products are becoming more and more popular. Brie and Camembert didn't go extinct after Cheez-Wiz was invented!

The Chocolate Nerd said...

Good point.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link. What our government really ought to do is to stop allowing the large chocolate makers to buy cacao/cocao from countries that allow child-slavery in the plantations, like the Ivory Coast!

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