Just Say "No!" to FrankenChocolate
The large industrial chocolate makers are at it again -- this time they want to create an artificial chocolate with vegetable oil and artificial fat substitutes instead of cocoa butter and to still be able to label and sell it as chocolate.
Throughout history, the recipe for chocolate has remained relatively the same. A number of the mega-chocolate makers want to be able to create this artificial chocolate, this monstrosity - FrankenChocolate, and still be able to call it chocolate; leaving the consumer mislead, confused and ultimately dissatisfied.
Just when chocolate is beginning to enjoy a renaissance, these large industrial chocolate makers want to remove the cocoa butter and replace it with vegetable oils. You ask why change it now? The answer is not for better taste or health benefits, it is to save money. Eating chocolate without the cocoa butter is like eating ice cream without the cream.
The time to stop this is now!
The U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has opened this issue up for a public comment period. This means that YOU are vital in stopping this current effort dead in its tracks. The public comment period has already been extended once (to June 25th) and may not be extended again.
Please copy the message below and visit the web link just below the message to the FDA. The FDA page will ask you for your postal zip code, your name and address and from the drop down, list yourself as a consumer. Once you have done this, please paste the following message into the public comment field to let the FDA know how you feel.
Once you are done, I have written a letter that you may forward to your friends to let them know of this impending disaster.
Dear FDA:
As a chocolate consumer, I am very concerned about the current proposal to allow chocolate makers to add vegetable oil and artificial fat substitutes to my chocolate. I believe that to be able to still be able to label and call their creation "chocolate" is misleading and adulterates a product that has remained relatively unchanged for centuries. We do not need to be changing what we know to be chocolate.
I am AGAINST any changes to the Standard of Identity for chocolate ( Docket Number: 2007P-0085 )
If the chocolate makers want to be able to add vegetable and artificial fats to their chocolate, they are already free to do so provided that it is not called chocolate. This should satisfy them.
Thank you for your time and I reiterate my COMPLETE OPPOSITION to any changes to the Standard of Identity of chocolate.
Signed,
A Chocolate Lover.
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On a positive note, Gary Guittard of Guittard Chocolate has taken a very public stand against these proposed changes to chocolate. As far as we are aware, Guittard is the only large U.S. chocolate company to oppose these changes in a public way and to solicit public support. Both Gary Guittard and the Guittard Chocolate Company should be commended for their dedication to keeping chocolate chocolate. Perhaps if enough people take a stand, the large chocolate makers will follow Gary's trailblazing lead.
As one of America's few small artisanal chocolate makers, we feel very strongly about this issue. As a society, we should be striving for higher quality in our food -- not less. We should plant more cocoa, not less. We should be honest with the public and not try to deceive them into thinking they are eating chocolate when they are not. To let the public know our public stand on this issue, we have issued the following company statement to go on the record.
The Time to Stop FrankenChocolate is NOW!
If you would like to do more, please forward a copy of the following message to your friends and those you know who love chocolate:
Subject: Help Keep Chocolate Chocolate!
Warning: The large chocolate companies want to change what we know as chocolate by removing one of the core ingredients, natural cocoa butter.
Yes, that's right. There is a proposal before the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow chocolate companies to begin substituting artificial fats and vegetable oils for the natural cocoa butter. This will turn chocolate into an artificial monstrosity that many call FrankenChocolate. The large industrial chocolate companies can label it ‘chocolate’ by the proposed FDA’s new definition allowing artificial fats and vegetable oils. You need to let your voice be heard.
If you want to fight this, want additional information, or simply want to tell the FDA what you think of this proposal, please visit:
http://www.amanochocolate.com/frankenchocolate/
We need to tell the FDA that we want to keep our chocolate just as it is and not let corporate America diminish the quality of the foods that we eat.
Please help us get the word out, help stop the FDA ruling as to what can be called chocolate. We understand there are many battles in this world, some more worthy than the next; ours is keeping our foods as natural as possible.
If you believe in protecting the foods that we eat, if you love chocolate the ways it melts so smoothly in your mouth then please reach out to a friend, five friends or better yet ten.
Our deadline to save chocolate as we know it is June 25 th.
We need to stop this while we still can!
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The public comment period has been extended to June 25th. We still have time to gather our forces and let the public know. Here is a list of just a few things that we can do to beat this.
- Submit an FDA Comment (see above).
- Tell your friends! (Be sure to urge them to submit an FDA Comment.)
- Write an Op-Ed in your local paper.
- Tell your local paper's news director or food editor about this website.
- Write about it on your blog or website.
- Link to this page from your blog or website.
- Call your local National Public Radio (NPR) stations and speak to the news director.
- Talk to the news director of your local television stations.
- Write to your U.S. Congressman
- Write to your U.S. Senator
If we all work together, I know that we can keep chocolate chocolate and stop the industrial chocolate makers from turning it into FrankenChocolate.
Thank you,
Art Pollard,
Founder, Amano Artisan Chocolate
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