Pure Chocolate?
November 26, 2010
As reported by the Associated Press from Brussels, at least according to the high court of the European Union, there is no such thing as pure chocolate!
In Europe, unlike in the United States, chocolate can contain other vegetable oils and still be called chocolate. Chocolate makers in some of the European countries typically include other oils, whereas some only use cocoa butter.
Most notably Italian law permitted the use of "pure chocolate" as a designation, contrary to the 1999 legislation where all EU nations agreed that the label would make clear whether the chocolate contained cocoa butter and/or other oils.
They had agreed that the word "chocolate" could describe all such confections, but the ingredients shown on the label would indicate the quality of the chocolate.
So, after the European Commission sued Italy, the EU high court concluded that the Italian labelling was not in conformity with the law, and the use of "pure chocolate" was struck down.
Whether it's called pure chocolate or not, look for chocolate with cocoa butter as the only fat, and you're much more likely to have a better chocolate tasting experience.
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