Editing Chocolate (section)

=== Legal definitions ===
In 2007, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association in the United States, whose members include [[The Hershey Company|Hershey]], [[Nestlé]], and [[Archer Daniels Midland]], [[lobbying|lobbied]] the [[Food and Drug Administration]] (FDA) to change the legal definition of chocolate to let them substitute [[partially hydrogenated vegetable oils]] for cocoa butter, in addition to using artificial sweeteners and milk substitutes.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bragg |first=Lynn |year=2007 |title=Letter to CMA from President |url=http://www.chocolateusa.org/pdfs/CMA-stakeholder.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070604203647/http://www.chocolateusa.org/pdfs/CMA-stakeholder.pdf |archive-date=4 June 2007 |access-date=8 June 2007}}</ref> Currently, the FDA does not allow a product to be referred to as "chocolate" if the product contains any of these ingredients.<ref>{{cite web |title=Adopt Regulations of General Applicability to all Food Standards that would Permit, within Stated Boundaries, Deviations from the Requirements of the Individual Food Standards of Identity |url=https://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/07p0085/07p-0085.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070522143217/https://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/07p0085/07p-0085.htm |archive-date=22 May 2007 |access-date=9 June 2007 |publisher=U.S. Food and Drug Administration}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=2007P-0085 Appendix C Changes Allowed to Modernize Food Standards While Retaining The Basic Nature and Essential Characteristics of Standardized Food |url=http://www.typetive.com/blogimages/07p-0085AppendixC.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070604203647/http://www.typetive.com/blogimages/07p-0085AppendixC.pdf |archive-date=4 June 2007 |access-date=9 June 2007 |publisher=U.S. Food and Drug Administration}}</ref>

In the United States, some large chocolate manufacturers lobbied the federal government to permit confections containing cheaper [[hydrogenated vegetable oil]] in place of cocoa butter to be sold as "chocolate". In June 2007, in response to consumer concern about the proposal, the FDA reiterated "Cacao fat, as one of the signature characteristics of the product, will remain a principal component of standardized chocolate."<ref>{{cite web |title=FDA's Standards for High Quality Foods |url=https://www.fda.gov/consumer/updates/foodstandards061807.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080224022908/https://www.fda.gov/consumer/updates/foodstandards061807.html |archive-date=24 February 2008 |access-date=17 May 2008 |publisher=[[Food and Drug Administration]]}}</ref>

In the EU a product can be sold as chocolate if it contains up to 5% vegetable oil, and must be labeled as "family milk chocolate" rather than "milk chocolate" if it contains 20% milk.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/678141.stm Sweet victory for UK chocolate] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803100828/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/678141.stm|date=3 August 2017}} BBC News (15 March 2000)</ref>

According to Canadian Food and Drug Regulations, a "chocolate product" is a food product that is sourced from at least one "cocoa product" and contains at least one of the following: "chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, dark chocolate, sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, or white chocolate". A "cocoa product" is defined as a food product that is sourced from cocoa beans and contains "cocoa nibs, cocoa liquor, cocoa mass, unsweetened chocolate, bitter chocolate, chocolate liquor, cocoa, low-fat cocoa, cocoa powder, or low-fat cocoa powder".<ref>{{cite web |date=13 June 2017 |title=Division 4: Cocoa and Chocolate Products |url=http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/C.R.C.,_c._870/page-33.html#h-66 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170713042147/http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/C.R.C.,_c._870/page-33.html#h-66 |archive-date=13 July 2017 |access-date=20 July 2017 |publisher=Government of Canada: Food and Drug Regulations (C.R.C., c. 870)}}</ref>