Save Chocolate! Do It Now!

The other day, I sent out my first ever mass email, reprinted here:

The U.S. Chocolate Industry, through its Chocolate Manufacturers of America (CMA), and in collaboration with the Grocery Manufacturers Association, have petitioned the Food and Drug Association (FDA) to change the current requirements for chocolate.

The changes will negatively affect the physical and nutritional qualities of chocolate.

The plan is to change the basic formula of chocolate in order to use vegetable fat substitutes in place of cocoa butter, and to use milk substitutes in the place of nutritionally superior milk.

None of what is being proposed benefits the consumer in any way, nor was any consumer research submitted to support such changes.

As a chocolate snob/addict I'm really disturbed by this, but am even more troubled by manufacturing special interests being allowed to redefine a food solely to benefit their own profit margins.

Even if you don't like chocolate, it's dangerous to allow such a precedent.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has a chocolate standard of identity requiring manufacturers to use approved ingredients in making chocolate, and it protects the consumer from any substitution of inferior ingredients. As a result, the Chocolate Industry must obtain approval from the Food and Drug Administration to make any changes.

You can help prevent these anti-consumer changes by going to this site:

http://dontmesswithourchocolate.guittard.com/

and filling out four lines on a a short Docket Management Comment Form.
They take you step by step.
It's easy.

Thanks for considering this thing

xoxo

E