Easter 

Choose your chocolate well!

Publié le null - Legal and Administrative Information Directorate (Prime Minister)

As the Easter holidays approach, a highlight for chocolate sales, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF) advises you to buy well.

Image 1
Image 1Crédits: M.studio - stock.adobe.com

Pay attention to the cocoa content

In France, a decree of 13 July 1976 transposing a Community directive defines the composition of chocolate products. Chocolates are composed of: cocoa, cocoa butter, sugar, milk and ingredients that bring distinctive flavors (such as dried fruits, caramel, coffee, praline, orange peel, etc.). They are categorized as: chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, filled chocolate and chocolate candy.

The benchmark is minimum cocoa content, a content providing chocolate intensity. Except for chocolate sweets, this information shall appear on the labeling as follows: cocoa: x % minimum. This statement refers exclusively to the chocolate part of the product.

Chocolates with a cocoa content of more than 43 % may have their denomination supplemented by qualifiers of superiority proving their quality, such as the term

black

.

Please note

Chocolate is the favorite product of the French who come to 10e world class in terms of consumption with an average of 6.4 kg per year per inhabitant. Their preference is dark chocolate, with a bitter taste and rich in cocoa. It accounts for 30% of adult consumption, compared to an average of 5% for the rest of Europe.

Labeling of vegetable fats

Vegetable fats other than cocoa butter may be added alone or mixed up to a maximum of 5 % (content calculated on the chocolate part alone, after deduction of the added ingredients) without reducing the minimum content of cocoa butter or total cocoa solids. The addition of vegetable fats, other than cocoa butter, shall be limited to the following fats only: illipé, palm oil, sal, shea, kokum gurgi, mango kernels.

European legislation requires the packaging of such products to include the following information:

contains vegetable fats in addition to cocoa butter

.

In France, chocolates which do not contain any of these fats may be marketed under one of these names: pure chocolate cocoa butter, traditional chocolate or any other equivalent denomination.

FYI  

Article R. 412-48 of the Consumer Code states that:

the names pure chocolate cocoa butter and traditional chocolate and all other equivalent names shall be reserved for chocolates made solely from the fats derived from cocoa beans, without the addition of vegetable fat

.

Strict control of compositions and labels

The Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF) monitors the application of these regulations (product composition and labeling) to suppliers of raw materials, manufacturers, importers and retailers.

Misleading advertisements such as those mentioning homemade chocolate, artisanal chocolate and handcrafted may give rise to notices to be given to offenders.

FYI  

Surveys show the strong attachment of French manufacturers and distributors to chocolate products devoid of vegetable fats.

In response to consumer demand, chocolate makers have also set out to develop a sustainable and eco-responsible sector.

Reminder

You can report any problem with your purchase, transparently with the company, on the government website SignalConso.

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