Editors: This story is about keeping our favorite chocolate ... chocolate!

    BURLINGAME, Calif., April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- What makes
 chocolate...real chocolate? That's the essence of the concern that a number
 of chocolate manufacturers have raised because of content standards changes
 being considered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that would
 change the composition and thereby the taste of America's chocolate.
     The changes in standards were proposed by the Grocery Manufacturers
 Association (GMA) on behalf of a number of trade associations including the
 US Chocolate Manufacturers Association in a "Citizens Petition" to the FDA,
 which has opened a comment period on the issue before taking action.
 (Deadline for public comment is April 25.)
     Gary Guittard, President of Guittard Chocolate Company of Burlingame,
 California -- a fourth generation maker of chocolate -- is joining with
 other chocolate manufacturers in asking the FDA to reject the proposed food
 standard changes that will affect chocolate products and to have regulators
 enter into a broad public dialogue with the chocolate industry, consumers,
 consumer advocates, retailers, nutritionists, health experts, and others
 with an interest in preserving the quality, taste and content of
 traditional American "chocolate."
     "While all companies in the industry may have financial and economic
 concerns about the cost of doing business, the chocolate industry prides
 itself on delivering to the consumer high quality products. The industry
 adheres to strict Federal Standards of Identity that were first established
 in the 1940's and have only been changed since to reflect new manufacturing
 techniques in 1993 and again in 2002 to establish a Standard of Identity
 for white chocolate," said Gary Guittard.
     "The Citizen's Petition proposed to FDA by the Grocery Manufacturers
 Association has many good points as it pertains to other foods, but if
 adopted it would allow the current "Gold Standard" for chocolate to be
 changed in a way that will ultimately result in short-changing the consumer
 and changing what we know and love as traditional chocolate. There are no
 clear consumer benefits associated with the proposed changes."
     A part of the proposed changes in the Citizens Petition presented by
 the Grocery Manufacturers Association to the FDA is a change in the strict
 Federal "Standards of Identity" for chocolate products which would permit
 the use of cheaper vegetable fats instead of the traditional cocoa butter
 and lower-cost milk substitutes instead of genuine milk products. This
 change would permit the resulting products to still be called "chocolate."
     The head of the 139-year old Guittard Chocolate Company, along with
 other industry leaders strongly supports food standards intended to
 establish a standard of identity and promote honesty and fair dealing with
 consumers. Federal food standards are intended to protect consumers by
 ensuring that products they purchase are what they are expecting. Food
 standards protect manufacturers by providing a level playing field for
 standardized products. Responsible manufacturers strongly support the
 existence of food standards, and most industry leaders believe that these
 should be aggressively enforced.
     "White chocolate," "milk chocolate," "sweet chocolate," and "semi-sweet
 chocolate" are all terms familiar to consumers that are clearly defined
 (and whose manufacture is governed) by FDA Standards of Identity. For a
 product to bear one of these terms, manufacturers must comply with the
 specific formulation requirements in the appropriate standards. Changes in
 these standards can impact the taste and quality of the product and have it
 become something else -- not the traditional "chocolate" Americans have
 enjoyed for more than a century.
     Changing the current "Gold Standard" for chocolate by allowing the
 substitution of hydrogenated or chemically-modified vegetable fats for
 cocoa butter will also have a dramatic impact on cocoa growers in Central
 and South America, the Caribbean Basin, Africa, and nations in Southeast
 Asia at a time when the global chocolate industry is working to improve
 working and economic conditions of these developing countries' farmers. In
 fact, the plan to substitute these types of vegetable fats for cocoa butter
 would cause a disastrous economic impact on their livelihoods as the demand
 for cocoa butter would likely decrease and prices would plummet as some
 manufacturers switch to the cheaper substitutes.
     Guittard Chocolate along with some other chocolate manufacturers is
 committed to preserving the quality and composition of chocolates that
 consumers know and trust. They are asking the FDA to reject the changes
 proposed by the GMA Citizen's Petition to the current "Gold Standard for
 Chocolate" and immediately enter into a broad, public dialogue with
 consumers, consumer groups, major and independent chocolate manufacturers,
 nutritionists, and retailers, and to solicit public comment to obtain a
 complete picture of the severe impact the proposal would have on the public
 and the entire industry. To this end, a Web site has been established to
 facilitate consumer and manufacturer comments at:
 http://dontmesswithourchocolate.guittard.com/
     "My family has been involved in the manufacturing of chocolate for 139
 years," notes Gary Guittard. "Chocolate is not just my business - it is my
 passion and these changes would lead the way to the manufacturing of
 something entirely different ... that would not be the traditional
 chocolate that most of us know and love."
     Note: The deadline for submitting public comment to the U.S. Food &
 Drug Administration on the Citizens Petition of the Grocery Manufacturers
 Association is April 25, 2007. See the Web site for more information:
 http://dontmesswithourchocolate.guittard.com/
 
 

SOURCE Guittard Chocolate Company