Catfish-and-Grits

This would be just plain silly, if it didn't have health implication. Not to mention truth-in-advertising implication. So what's the [ deal ]....

Hershey, and other american chocolate manufacturer want to trim the cost of producing chocolate. Members of the U.S. Chocolate Industry are supporting a change in the basic formula of chocolate, by allowing the use of vegetable fat substitutes in place of cocoa butter. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a chocolate standard of identity requiring manufacturers to use approved ingredients in making chocolate, and it protects the consumer from any substitution of inferior ingredients. As a result, the Chocolate Industry must obtain approval from the Food and Drug Administration to make any changes to the standard of identity for chocolate.

Recently, the U.S. Chocolate Industry, through its Chocolate Manufacturers Association (CMA), along with 11 other food industry associations, have joined with the Grocery Manufacturers Association(GMA) in supporting what is called a citizen's petition asking the FDA for approval to change current requirements for a number of food categories, of which chocolate is included. The petition has been recorded with the FDA as Docket # 2007P-0085.

Below is a chart of the proposed:

Notice the "Added Fat" section. The CMA wants to virtually remove all traces of REAL chocolate from the ingredients, with cocoa butter costing $2.30/lbs vs. vegetable fat costing only $0.70/lbs. And the truth-in-advertising angle is that companies like Hershey, Altria (formerly Phillip Morris) also want to be able to sell their chocolate with out any special labelling -- ie. selling fake chocolate as real chocolate. This is what happens when you have an obscenely pro uber-mega corporation president. Businesses begin to think they are no longer accountable to the consumers. Click [ here ] to read the proposal and submit your comment. The more we disagree with this kind of stuff the less it happens. Of course, if it passes, you can always vote with you dollars.