EU countries are the biggest consumers of chocolate confectioneries in the world. A technique developed by the JRC Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) to measure vegetable fats in milk chocolate has become the first such method to be adopted as a standard by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). It has been developed to enable the enforcement of the so-called ‘Chocolate Directive’, which stipulates that European chocolate must not contain more than 5% vegetable fats, other than cocoa butter.
European legislation allows the addition of up to 5% of vegetable fats other than cocoa butter in chocolate products and stipulates that consumers be informed by appropriate labelling of the product. The threshold of 5% is also an essential requirement for these products to move freely within the internal market.