3. The Committee recalled that for the last Session of the Committee the Swiss Secretariat had prepared a new proposed draft standard for chocolate and chocolate products by merging the existing Codex Standards for Chocolate, for Cocoa Butter Confectionery, and for Composite and Filled Chocolate in order to make it less restrictive and more flexible. The Committee at that session supported the simplification of the standard and also identified several issues requiring further consideration such as: whether or not to allow the use of vegetable fats other than cocoa butter in manufacturing chocolate products and its impact on trade and economy of cocoa producing countries; the definition and denomination of milk chocolate with high milk content; and use of antioxidant in white chocolate.
4. The Committee recalled the proposal of the Observer of the EC made during the adoption of the Agenda and decided to defer the discussion on inclusion of vegetable fats to the end of the Session taking into account the difficulties met with at the previous session of the Committee.
DESCRIPTION
5. The Committee agreed to amend the title of the Section 2.1 by inserting the word “types” after the word “chocolate” so as to avoid confusion which could arise from the use of the term “chocolate” in the titles of chocolate of section 2.1 and 2.1.1 recognizing that the first two paragraphs of Section 2.1 contained the generic definition of chocolate.
6. The Committee had an exchange views on the proposal to delete last two sentences of the first paragraph in Section 2.1 and, despite some opposition, agreed to retain the wording and to replace the term “composite chocolate” with “various chocolate products”.
UNSWEETENED CHOCOLATE AND SWEETENED (PLAIN) CHOCOLATE
7. The Committee decided to retain the definitions of these products as they were on the market for sale to consumers in North America and were exported to other regions. The Committee agreed to accept a proposal of the Delegation of the USA to amend the definition of Unsweetened Chocolate as follows: Unsweetened Chocolate is a chocolate made with no added sugars or sweeteners and shall contain, on dry matter basis, not less than 50% and not more than 60% cocoa butter.
COUVERTURE CHOCOLATE
8. The Committee decided to introduce the definition of Couverture Chocolate and accepted the wording proposed by the Delegation of France to read as follows: Couverture Chocolate shall contain, on dry matter basis, not less than 35% total cocoa solids of which not less than 31% shall be cocoa butter and not less than 2.5% of fat-free cocoa solids. The Committee decided to place this definition in square brackets as the wording became available only at the Session.
MILK CHOCOLATE
9. The Committee discussed whether to retain separate definitions for Milk Chocolates or to merge them into a single one. Several delegations expressed the view that a clear distinction of two types of milk chocolate should be maintained. Some other delegations were of the opinion that there was only one type of product with different milk content and favoured a single definition for milk chocolate. The Committee decided to maintain the two separate definitions as agreed at the last Session. The Delegations of Canada, Ireland, Malaysia, UK and USA expressed their reservations on the decision of the Committee in this regard.
10. The Committee sought a new, neutral and descriptive name for milk chocolate with high milk content as the term “milk chocolate with high milk content ” would imply a higher quality product while terms such as household chocolate would imply a product of lower quality. Based on background culture, the perception toward this type of products differed from country to country and the Committee was unable to reach a solution and therefore kept the present designation of products stated in Section 2.1.5.2 of milk chocolate with high milk content in square brackets for further consideration.
11. On the question of whether the minimum level of milkfat in milk chocolate be 2.5% or 3.5%, the Committee confirmed its previous decision to use 2.5% for the sake of better keeping quality of the product in tropical climates.
ADDITION OF VEGETABLE FAT OTHER THAN COCOA BUTTER
12. The Delegation of Côte d’Ivoire supported by several delegations opposed the possibility of introducing up to 5% of vegetable fats into chocolate-based products and emphasized negative economic consequences of such step. The Delegation also indicated that any introduction of the 5% rule should be accompanied by strict conditions:
13. The Delegation of Japan supported by several other delegations, stated that any regulation for a chocolate standard should cover only compositional requirements and that the use of vegetable fat other than cocoa butter should be allowed within this regulation, which by providing varieties of products would increase consumption of chocolate and simultaneously cocoa beans.
14. The Committee noted that there were only slight changes in the positions of delegations on the addition of vegetable fat. However, the Committee also noted, based on comments of Côte d’Ivoire and CAOBISCO, that there were some encouraging signs of starting a dialogue between cocoa producing countries and chocolate industry in order to reach a compromise on this subject. The Committee decided to keep the second paragraph in Section 2.1 in square brackets for further comments and consideration by the next session of the Committee.
15. The Committee encouraged the delegations to work on all aspects of this issue on a scientific basis and to exchange available information at conferences and meetings of cocoa and chocolate producers in order to find consensus on this issue. The Committee encouraged the delegations to provide new positions in order to reach consensus on this controversial issue.
Status of the Proposed Draft Standard for Chocolate and Chocolate Products
16. Due to time constraints the Committee was unable to complete the examination of the Standard. As several important issues in the standard still required further consideration, the Committee agreed to return the Proposed Draft Standard for Chocolate and Chocolate products to Step 3 of the Procedure for further comments, as amended during the present session.
