Battle over chocolate set to continue

Date: 13/05/1999

By Renée Cordes

THE Netherlands and Belgium look set to reject a new German compromise aimed at ending a 25-year-old dispute over proposed EU-wide regulations governing chocolate content.

Bonn will press member states to accept its latest proposals at a meeting of EU ambassadors next Wednesday (19 May), in the hope that enough progress can be made for the issue to be discussed by single market ministers next month.

The European Commission has proposed allowing manufacturers to use up to 5% non-cocoa butter in their chocolate on condition that products are clearly labelled to allow shoppers to make an informed choice.

Under the latest compromise, chocolate manufacturers would be allowed to use about half a dozen non-cocoa vegetable fats in their products. But the Netherlands and Belgium, which ban the use of these fats, are still insisting that chocolate should only be labelled as such if it contains cocoa butter alone.

Seven EU countries - the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Portugal, Austria, Sweden and Finland - allow chocolate makers to use non-cocoa vegetable fats in their products.

But Belgium and the Netherlands appear to have won French, Spanish and Greek support for their stand, giving them enough votes to force further negotiations on the issue. "If this latest compromise is not successful now, it will be some time before anyone comes back to this," said one diplomat.

Member states also remain divided over how chocolate should be labelled if it contains non-cocoa fats. Those countries which only use cocoa insist other products must carry a clearly visible label on the front, while other member states want the label to be less prominent. Germany has proposed requiring that the label be in as large a typeface as the ingredients list and in bold lettering.