The Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission approved amendments to the technical regulations of the Customs Union “On food safety”. The amendments concern the issues of establishing uniform requirements for chocolate, chocolate products and cocoa products for the EEU countries. According to the amendments to the Technical Regulations, chocolate includes bitter, dark, plain, sweet, milk, extra milk, white chocolate, chocolate with filling and chocolate powder; chocolate products include confectionery products that contain 25% or more of the separable chocolate component from the total product weight; cocoa products include cocoa mass, cocoa butter, cocoa powder, cocoa lump and cocoa cake.
Under the new mandatory requirements, chocolate put into circulation in the EAEC must contain 35% or more of the total dry residue of cocoa, including 18% or more of cocoa butter.
In order to produce chocolate it is not allowed to use animal fats with the exception of milk fat, but it is allowed to use equivalents of cocoa butter and (or) SOS-type cocoa butter improvers, the total mass fraction of which in chocolate shall not exceed 5%.
For the production of chocolate and cocoa products it shall not be allowed to use flavorings that imitate the taste and (or) flavor of chocolate or cocoa products. For the production of milk, extramilk and white chocolate flavorings which imitate the taste and (or) flavor of milk or cream, milk fat shall not be used.
Filled chocolate must contain 25% or more of the outer part of the chocolate that separates from the filling. In this case, chocolate filled products do not include bakery (including muffins), flour confectionery and ice cream coated with chocolate.
Changes in technical regulation will contribute to saturation of consumer market with high quality products.
Developer of the document is Belarusian State Concern of Food Industry (“Belgospischeprom”). Requirements for chocolate are harmonized with international standards of Codex Alimentarius.
The document will come into force 210 days after its official publication.
Source: EEC website
