One of Europe’s longest-running trade disputes is officially over. European Union ministers have accepted a definition of chocolate – which will allow the sale of British and Scandinavian varieties across the continent.
A European Commission spokesman said the new rules would give consumers and producers greater choice. This was a dispute that lasted a quarter of a century and was as much about national pride as about ingredients and recipes.
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Chocolate or ‘vegelate’
For years, Belgium and France argued that only chocolate made from cocoa butter deserved the name, and that British-style products which used vegetable fats should be called something else.
Chocolate purists have often blocked imports containing vegetable fat. There was even a demand that they should be called vegelate. Now, the EU governments have accepted a compromise agreed in the European Parliament earlier this year.
It means chocolate can contain up to five percent of certain vegetable fats as long as it is clearly labelled.
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By GlobalDataBritish milk chocolate will be called family milk chocolate, but will now be widely available across the EU.
‘Losing out’
There has been opposition to the new regulations – not only from specialist chocolate makers but also from the world’s major cocoa producing countries who fear a drop in demand for cocoa butter.
Ivory Coast – which produces 40% of the world’s cocoa – expects to lose $270m a year, a forecast challenged by several of the big chocolate manufacturers.
