tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352627235051241428.post4246521979703967668..comments2008-10-27T15:56:57.701-05:00Patric Chocolatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11746946543292436980noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352627235051241428.post-13865522784259747582008-10-21T13:20:00.000-05:002008-10-21T13:20:00.000-05:00Cocoazilla,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for your comment. <BR/><BR/>Actually the odd thing is that the FDA maintains a stricter definition of chocolate than does the EU. <BR/><BR/>For example, though Hershey has started to use non-cocoa butter fats in some previously chocolate products, they can no longer call them "chocolate" on the label. The FDA requires chocolate to only contain cocoa butter and optionally, very small amounts of milk fat. This is why some Hershey products may now say "chocolatey" or "chocolate flavor." The EU, on the other hand, sometime between 2001 and 2003 changed the legal definition of chocolate to allow a certain limited percentage of non-cocoa butter vegetable fats into a product called "chocolate." This change occurred because German laws already allowed for other vegetable fat use, whereas French laws did not. So, Germany claimed that France had an unfair market advantage. Because of the way that the EU works, Germany got its way, and so now, no matter where you are in the EU, France included, you've got to watch your labels even if it does say "chocolate" on the front.<BR/><BR/>Odd but true.Patric Chocolatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11746946543292436980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352627235051241428.post-16720586438676464072008-10-21T13:08:00.000-05:002008-10-21T13:08:00.000-05:00Agreed that "best" is subjective, it's all about the ingredients and the personal palette. I do believe that the European Union has stricter standards on what can and cannot go into chocolate and that probably dictates very heavily the quality that we see there verses the Hershey adding of vegetable oil over cocoa butter here.CocoaZillawww.cocoa-heaven.comnoreply@blogger.com