Diplomatic solution to sticky problem

Date: 14/12/1995

By Fiona McHugh

PLANS to harmonise the recipes for chocolate throughout the EU look set to be shelved by the European Commission in the face of fierce opposition.

A draft revised directive to be discussed by Commissioners on 20 December shies away from imposing EU-wide limits on the amount of vegetable fat which can be used in chocolate, preferring instead to leave such sticky issues to member state governments. The Commission has also dropped plans to ban products which substitute vegetable fats for cocoa butter from bearing the name chocolate.

“You could call it a status quo, if you like,” conceded one battle-weary Commission official. “Continental chocolate makers are free to trumpet the fact that they use the real thing (cocoa butter), if they wish,” said another.

At the moment, chocolate makers in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Portugal, Sweden and the UK can use up to 5&percent; vegetable fats or cocoa butter equivalents, while those in the remaining EU countries may not.

Rumours that plans were being drafted to revise the now-famous 1973 chocolate directive for the 12th time prompted numerous hysterical press reports earlier this year, with scare stories about Brussels banning British chocolate filling UK newspapers.

The debate also reached fever pitch in 'purist' countries, such as France and Belgium, where national laws insist that chocolate is made using cocoa butter. Newspapers forecast the demise of national chocolate industries and dire consequences for cocoa-producing countries, many of which are former French and Belgian colonies, in the absence of strict content rules.

The other side was equally vociferous. Chocolate makers from northern Europe argued that they sold more than their continental competitors because consumers liked vegetable fats, and claimed changes to age-old recipes would lead to a drastic drop in sales.

“If you have a recipe for chocolate which has been a success for decades, why on earth would you run the risk of damaging that commercial success by changing the recipe? The fact is, consumers like the taste and texture of vegetable fat,” said a Cadbury's spokesman.

In the event, the Commission has decided to tread a diplomatic line by simply leaving things more or less unchanged.

But it has come under fire from Caobisco, an association representing the chocolate industry. “A dual system does not make any sense. It will only encourage investors to move north where laws are laxer,” complained director Arnold Van Hecke.

The draft revised directive will have to be approved by the Commission before being sent to the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.