The following formulae have been compiled by the Association of German Chocolate Manufacturers for the purpose of fixing the definition of cacao, and we may say that we agree with same in the main, as they satisfy all just claims, and keep pace with the progress made in consequence of the introduction of the modern machinery now in use, both from a scientific and practical point of view. Only in a few points are we of different opinion, and have referred to such clearly in their place.
1. Cacao mass is the product obtained by simply grinding and moulding roasted and shelled cacao beans and no substance handled under this name may contain any admixtures of foreign matter.2. Disintegrated cacao mass is cacao which has been treated either with alkalis, alkaline earth, or steam.3. Cocoa powder, freed of oil (also soluble, disintegrated cacao) is the resulting product when the cacao bean is decorticated, roasted and more or less freed from its oil or also disintegrated in powder form. Cocoa powder, cacao from which oil has been extracted, disintegrated and soluble cacao may on no account contain foreign ingredient other than an addition of roots and spices.In the case of cacaos disintegrated with alkalis or alkali earths, not more than 3 % of alkali or alkali earth may be used in the process; they may not contain more than 8 % of ash, reckoned on cacao material with 56 % of cacao butter.4.Chocolate.The designation “Chocolate” may only be applied to those confections which are prepared by the additionof cacao butter, vanilla, vanillin, cinnamon, cloves or other spices to roasted and shelled beans or to a disintegrated mixture of cacao and sugar.The percentage amount of sugar may not exceed 70, and the occasional addition of other substances (medicinal, meals, and the like) is admissible, but the total percentage of these and the sugar may not exceed 70.2115.Food chocolates,chocolates for immediate consumption, anddessert chocolates. For these confections the same principles hold good, with the exception that here additions of nuts, almonds and milk stuffs are permissible, up to a percentage not exceeding 5 in total, without any declaration of the goods being necessary.6.Chocolate powderis a mixture of cacao material which may be disintegrated and more or less freed from oil, with an amount of sugar not exceeding 70% at the most. Spices as in the case of chocolate.2117. Cacao butter is the fat obtained from the decorticated bean or cacao material.
1. Cacao mass is the product obtained by simply grinding and moulding roasted and shelled cacao beans and no substance handled under this name may contain any admixtures of foreign matter.2. Disintegrated cacao mass is cacao which has been treated either with alkalis, alkaline earth, or steam.3. Cocoa powder, freed of oil (also soluble, disintegrated cacao) is the resulting product when the cacao bean is decorticated, roasted and more or less freed from its oil or also disintegrated in powder form. Cocoa powder, cacao from which oil has been extracted, disintegrated and soluble cacao may on no account contain foreign ingredient other than an addition of roots and spices.
1. Cacao mass is the product obtained by simply grinding and moulding roasted and shelled cacao beans and no substance handled under this name may contain any admixtures of foreign matter.
2. Disintegrated cacao mass is cacao which has been treated either with alkalis, alkaline earth, or steam.
3. Cocoa powder, freed of oil (also soluble, disintegrated cacao) is the resulting product when the cacao bean is decorticated, roasted and more or less freed from its oil or also disintegrated in powder form. Cocoa powder, cacao from which oil has been extracted, disintegrated and soluble cacao may on no account contain foreign ingredient other than an addition of roots and spices.
In the case of cacaos disintegrated with alkalis or alkali earths, not more than 3 % of alkali or alkali earth may be used in the process; they may not contain more than 8 % of ash, reckoned on cacao material with 56 % of cacao butter.
4.Chocolate.The designation “Chocolate” may only be applied to those confections which are prepared by the additionof cacao butter, vanilla, vanillin, cinnamon, cloves or other spices to roasted and shelled beans or to a disintegrated mixture of cacao and sugar.
4.Chocolate.The designation “Chocolate” may only be applied to those confections which are prepared by the additionof cacao butter, vanilla, vanillin, cinnamon, cloves or other spices to roasted and shelled beans or to a disintegrated mixture of cacao and sugar.
The percentage amount of sugar may not exceed 70, and the occasional addition of other substances (medicinal, meals, and the like) is admissible, but the total percentage of these and the sugar may not exceed 70.211
5.Food chocolates,chocolates for immediate consumption, anddessert chocolates. For these confections the same principles hold good, with the exception that here additions of nuts, almonds and milk stuffs are permissible, up to a percentage not exceeding 5 in total, without any declaration of the goods being necessary.6.Chocolate powderis a mixture of cacao material which may be disintegrated and more or less freed from oil, with an amount of sugar not exceeding 70% at the most. Spices as in the case of chocolate.2117. Cacao butter is the fat obtained from the decorticated bean or cacao material.
5.Food chocolates,chocolates for immediate consumption, anddessert chocolates. For these confections the same principles hold good, with the exception that here additions of nuts, almonds and milk stuffs are permissible, up to a percentage not exceeding 5 in total, without any declaration of the goods being necessary.
6.Chocolate powderis a mixture of cacao material which may be disintegrated and more or less freed from oil, with an amount of sugar not exceeding 70% at the most. Spices as in the case of chocolate.211
7. Cacao butter is the fat obtained from the decorticated bean or cacao material.
The following are especially to be regarded as adulterations of the goods mentioned under I. from 1 to 7.
1. Foreign fats;2. Shells and other waste cacao products (dust or seed);3. Meal, though this is not expressly given;4. Colouring matter; the colouring of the surface of figures is permissible;5. So-called fat economisers, such as adraganth, gelatine, and dextrine.
1. Foreign fats;2. Shells and other waste cacao products (dust or seed);3. Meal, though this is not expressly given;4. Colouring matter; the colouring of the surface of figures is permissible;5. So-called fat economisers, such as adraganth, gelatine, and dextrine.
1. Foreign fats;
2. Shells and other waste cacao products (dust or seed);
3. Meal, though this is not expressly given;
4. Colouring matter; the colouring of the surface of figures is permissible;
5. So-called fat economisers, such as adraganth, gelatine, and dextrine.
An addition of substances for medicinal or dietetic purposes is permissible, though in such cases the goods must be declared. The addition of any fats other than cacao butter (i. e. of any foreign fat) or of shells or waste products to cacao or chocolate or to cacao or chocolate goods is also not permissible even when these are designated in such a manner that the words chocolate and cacao do not occur in their description.
The declaration must be transcribed in legible script and form, as e. g. “Meal” so as to be readily understood by all, and composed in German.
The declaration must occur together with the description of contents and as part of the same on despatching original packages in retail transactions.
In wholesale trade the declaration must occur on all offers, quotations, bills and all boxes, etc. provided with description of contents.
When offered for sale or exhibited in an unpacked condition, every box etc. containing the goods must have such a declaration introduced so as to be visible to every buyer in the premises, where possible; or the declaration shall be placed on the goods themselves.
1. Skimmed milk chocolates must be literally described as such, and must be manufactured with at least 10 % of skimmed milk powder or the corresponding quantity of skimmed milk proper. Addition of ordinary milk or its powder is permissible and need not be declared;2. Milk chocolate must be manufactured with ordinary milk containing at least 3 % of fat, and in such a manner that at least 10 % of milk powder or the corresponding quantity of milk proper are employed;3. Cream chocolate must be prepared from cream containing at least 10 % of fat, and in such a manner that at least 10 % of a cream powder or the corresponding amount of cream, in each case containing 50 % of milk fat, are employed. It may be varied to taste with milk proper or its powder, without any further declaration being necessary.
1. Skimmed milk chocolates must be literally described as such, and must be manufactured with at least 10 % of skimmed milk powder or the corresponding quantity of skimmed milk proper. Addition of ordinary milk or its powder is permissible and need not be declared;2. Milk chocolate must be manufactured with ordinary milk containing at least 3 % of fat, and in such a manner that at least 10 % of milk powder or the corresponding quantity of milk proper are employed;3. Cream chocolate must be prepared from cream containing at least 10 % of fat, and in such a manner that at least 10 % of a cream powder or the corresponding amount of cream, in each case containing 50 % of milk fat, are employed. It may be varied to taste with milk proper or its powder, without any further declaration being necessary.
1. Skimmed milk chocolates must be literally described as such, and must be manufactured with at least 10 % of skimmed milk powder or the corresponding quantity of skimmed milk proper. Addition of ordinary milk or its powder is permissible and need not be declared;
2. Milk chocolate must be manufactured with ordinary milk containing at least 3 % of fat, and in such a manner that at least 10 % of milk powder or the corresponding quantity of milk proper are employed;
3. Cream chocolate must be prepared from cream containing at least 10 % of fat, and in such a manner that at least 10 % of a cream powder or the corresponding amount of cream, in each case containing 50 % of milk fat, are employed. It may be varied to taste with milk proper or its powder, without any further declaration being necessary.
These percentages represent a minimum. It remains at the manufacturer’s choice whether he shall employ larger quantities of cream or milk.
The associated firms are further recommended to annex the following guarantees:
a) that the powder of milk proper contain at least 26 % of fat and be prepared from a milk guaranteed as pure;b) that the cream powder contain at least 40 % of milk or be prepared from cream containing at least 10% of fat.
a) that the powder of milk proper contain at least 26 % of fat and be prepared from a milk guaranteed as pure;b) that the cream powder contain at least 40 % of milk or be prepared from cream containing at least 10% of fat.
a) that the powder of milk proper contain at least 26 % of fat and be prepared from a milk guaranteed as pure;
b) that the cream powder contain at least 40 % of milk or be prepared from cream containing at least 10% of fat.
It is especially emphasised that these quantities are minimums, and every manufacturer is free to add as much cream or milk as he pleases.
We particularly recommend the procuring of a guarantee from the milk purveyor as to its purity for every delivery in order to be covered against fines in case the product should prove to contain an insufficient amount of fat. Analytical testings of trial samples are also to be recommended.
By way of comparison we refer to the “Principles for Estimating Cacao Products and their Food Value” determined by the Free Union of German Food Chemists in their 8th annual assembly at Heidelberg (1909) and finally established in their 10th held at Dresden (1911), which are said to have found general acceptance from the 1st July, 1912.
Cacao massis the product which is purely and simply obtained from the roasted and shelled cacao bean by grinding and moulding.
Cacao mass may not contain any kind of foreign substance. Traces of shell may only be present in minor quantity. The waste product falling in the cleansing of the bean must not be added to the cacao mass, nor may it be worked up into cacao material separate and apart from other cacao.
Cacao mass shows 2·5-5% of ash and contains 52-58 % of fat.
Disintegrated cacao is such material as is treated with alkalis or alkaline earths, ammonia or its salts, under pressure of steam.
Cocoa powder, cacao that has been pressed and its oil removed, soluble Cocoa and disintegrated cacao are synonyms for cacao mass which has been reduced to powder form after they have been partially separated from fat by expression under heat; and generally treatment with alkalis or their carbonates, alkaline earths, ammonia, and ammonia salts under a strong steam pressure are presupposed.
Cocoa powder containing under 20% of fat, as well as that treated with spices (aromatised or scented) must be declared accordingly.
Cocoa powder may not contain any kind of foreign substance. Traces of shell may only be present in minor quantity. The waste product falling in the cleansing of the bean may neither be added to the cocoa powder nor itself worked up into such a powder.
The added alkali or alkaline earths may not exceed 3 % of the raw material.
Only powdered cacao and cocoa powder which has been treated with ammonia and its salts under strong steam pressure shows from 3 to 5 % of ash on cacao mass containing 55 % of fat.
Cocoa powders disintegrated with alkalis and alkaline earths must not show more than 8 % of ash on cacao containing 55 % of fat.
The percentage of water must not rise above 9.
Chocolateis a mixture of cacao material with beetroot or cane sugar and a proportionate admixture of spices (vanilla, vanillin, cinnamon, cloves and so forth). Many chocolates contain apart from that an addition of cacao butter.
The percentage of sugar may not amount to more than 68.
Addition of substances for dietetic and medicinal purposes is permissible, and then the total of sugar and such addition must not exceed 68% of the whole.
Apart from the addition of spices no other vegetable admixtures are permissible. Nor may chocolate contain any foreign fat or foreign mineral constituents. Cacao shells may only be present in faint traces. The waste product falling in the cleansing of the bean must not be added to the cacao mass, nor may it be worked up into cacao material itself.
Chocolates which contain meal, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts and milk stuffs must be provided with a declaration indicating such addition precisely, and here again the total addition of foreign ingredients shall not exceed 68 %.212
The percentage of ash constituent shall not exceed 2.5.
Covering or coating materialmust satisfy the requirements holding good for chocolate even when the coated goods bear declarations in which the words cacao or chocolate do not expressly occur, although admixtures of nuts, almonds and milk stuffs not exceeding a total of 5% may be made without declaration.
Chocolate powdermay not contain more than 68 % of sugar.
Cacao butteris the fat obtained from the hulled bean or cacao mass.
Milk and Cream Chocolates.
1. Cream, milk and skimmed milk-chocolates are products which are manufactured with addition of cream, milk (skimmed or unskimmed) in a natural, thickened or dry form. They must be declared as cream, milk or skimmed milk chocolates.
2. The fat content of full milk should amount to at least 3 per cent., and that of cream itself 10 percent. If the full milk or cream is added in a condensed or dried state, these ingredients must be in corresponding proportions. As it is at present not possible to produce a cream powder containing at least 55 percent of fat, the normal preparation of this class is, for the time being, represented by a production containing 5.5 percent of milk fat in the form of cream and milk.
3. Milk chocolate prepared from skimmed milk must contain at least 12.5 percent of dried milk or skim-milk, and “Cream” chocolates not less than 10 percent of cream or full-cream powder.
4. The percentage of the milk or cream preparation added must in all chocolates be deducted only from the percentage of the sugar, i. e. the cacao content of all chocolates containing these ingredients must be the same as in the case of the commoner varieties.
Special notice.In the case of butter chocolates, in which the cream is replaced by pure cacao fat, the same regulations naturally obtain; thus the amount of butter added must be not less than 5.5 percent of the whole, and the butter should be used in place of the sugar only.
(Regulations relating to the manner of examining chocolates as to the presence of the prescribed quantities of the above ingredients will probably be issued in the course of a year or two.)
The Assembly of Microscopical and Food Chemists in Vienna, held on the 12th-13th October 1897, the object of which was to fix a “Codex Alimentarius Austriacus”, also arrived at some just and appreciable definitions, which are well worthy of repetition here:213
1. Chocolate should consist of a mixture of cacao, Austrian sugar capable of fermentation, further an addition of spices (cinnamon,cloves, vanilla or vanillin) amounting to as much as 1 percent of the whole.
2. Cacao mass should consist of the roasted and shelled cacao bean, ground and moulded, only.
3. Cocoa Powder should be a preparation obtained from cacao mass only by the partial expression of the 50 percent of fat which the latter contains and frequently treated with alkalis. The alkalis may reach 2 percent of the whole, and the object of the treatment with them is to effect the disintegration of the tissues of cacao or to render the cacao “soluble
An International Congress of Chocolate and Cocoa Manufacturers was finally held in Berne on August 21st-23rd 1911, which, unlike the meeting held by the White Cross in Geneva (1908), the object of which was the prevention of food adulterations, was really international and attended by numerous manufacturers from Belgium, Germany, England, France, Holland, Italy, Mexico, Austria, Hungary, Russia and Switzerland, the total number of visitors amounting to 250.214
§ 1. Cacao mass is obtained by roasting or drying215cacao beans which have previously been well cleaned and freed from the shells and dust. Cacao mass can either be disintegrated, i. e. “soluble” or untreated with disintegrating agents, i. e. “insoluble
Cacao which has been treated according to § 5 is in the real and business sense of the term to be regarded as apurearticle of food, seeing that the treatment with alkaline carbonates or pure alkali is a purely chemical, or technical, operation. Such cacao may therefore be justly termed “pure
§ 2. Cacao mass may contain a quantity of added cacao butter proportionate to the prescribed, or suitable, fat content of the cacao preparation to be made.
§ 3. Cocoa powder should consist of defatted, or fatty, pulverised cacao mass.
§ 4. Cocoa powder which has been opened up by means of alkalis or otherwise is termed “soluble” or disintegrated cacao.
Disintegrated cacao which has been treated as described under § 5 may in the real and business sense of the word be regarded as a “pure” article of food, as the treatment with alkaline carbonates or pure alkalis is a purely chemical, or technical, operation. Such cacao may, therefore, be justly termed “pure
§ 5. The quantity of alkali used to effect the treatment described should not exceed 5·75216grammes of potash or the equivalent of another alkaline carbonate, to 100 grammes of dry defatted cacao.
§ 6. Cacao butter consists of the fat obtained from either untreated or disintegrated cacao.
§ 7. Chocolate is a mixture of cacao mass and sugar, with or without the addition of cacao butter. On pulverising chocolate,chocolate powderis obtained.
§ 8. Both chocolate and chocolate powder may, if the methods of manufacture require it, be prepared from partially defatted cacao mass.
§ 9. The amount of cacao mass and cacao butter contained in chocolates and chocolate powders should be at least 32 percent217of the whole.
§ 10. Milk chocolate should consist of a mixture of cacao mass, cacao butter, sugar and milk or milk powder. The quantity of cacao mass and cacao butter contained in such preparations should amount together to at least 25 percent218of the whole.
§ 11. All chocolates which are brought on to the market under the name of milk chocolate, must contain at least 12·5 percent of milk or milk powder.
§ 12. No milk used for the preparation of milk chocolate may contain any preserving agent.
§ 13. The definitions of chocolate proper apply also to covering material.
§ 14. Covering chocolate may, without special designation, contain up to 5 percent of its weight as sold of almonds, nuts, milk or milk powder. All other additions must be clearly declared on the packages in which the covering material is sold, or in the invoices referring to it.
§ 15. All material (spices etc.) used for flavouring cacao preparations must be harmless.219
Name of cacao preparationAdulterationMode of DetectionReferenceChocolateMeal (kind not stated)a) Microscopically277Cacao massb) By excess in glucose264Coated Goods Coveringc) By decreasing the amount of ash—Chocolats fondantsCacao husks and sawdusta) By increasing the amount of ash and the amount of silicic acid in the ash256b) Method of levigation267c) Determination of fibre266d) Microscopically275Foreign fats and oilsa) Melting point260b) Iodine value—c) Saponification value—d) Refractometer test—e) Björklund’s test261Bad (rancid) cacao-buttera) Acid value260b) Reichert-Meissl number—ForbiddencolouringmattersYellow ochreIncrease in the amount of ash—Red ferric oxideBrickdustCoalonly observedin soup powders;Cacaolol—only used toimitate the ashof chocolate cigars;Zinc white and heavy sparAnalytically in the ash—Besides inorganic weighting materialIncrease in the amount of ash—SandClayDextrinePolarisation by Welmans’ process258Excess of sugara) Polarimetric test269b) Aräometric test270c) Decrease in ash—Excess of cacao butterDetermination of amount of fat258Excess of waterDetermination of moisture254GelatinePicric acid test and albumin determinatio—TragacanthMicroscopically277Earth-nutMicroscopically278Earth-nut-cakeDetermination of albumin271Walnut- and hazelnut pulpsMicroscopically278Cocoa-PowderHuskAs with chocolate—Foreign fatMeal
Cacao preparations are subject to manifold and various kinds of adulteration. The following table gives a list of proved adulterating agents, and contains in the last column but one hints as to how such foreign additions can be detected, which hints are given in more detail on various pages in this edition, the numbers of which are annexed in the last column.
Bases for the judgment of cacao preparations appear on the one hand in the definitions and formulas previously given, and on the other in the rougher and finer adulterations which we had the opportunity of detecting. We give these bases once more, at least such as we deem necessary to a proper estimation of the purity of cacao goods, and in general rather incline to the principles which Filsinger has worked out for the Imperial Health Office (Germany) and which received a hearty reception at the hands of the various unions connected with the trade.
Chocolate,Cacao material, andcocoa powder(defatted and disintegrated cacao) may on no account contain any kind of foreign vegetable mixtures like starch, meal, peanut cake, hazel nut and walnut admixtures, nor cacao shells nor yet waste products, neither may it contain any mineral stuffs or foreign fats. Chocolates with meal addition must contain on the wrapper a concise and definite declaration of such addition on the wrapper. The presence of cacao shells is detrimental to the nutritious value of the cacao preparation, being little suited for human consumption, as they contain a large quantity of woody substance, and apart from this, always occur with adhering sand and earth. The removal of such shells is since the perfecting of the cleaning machinery intended for the purpose, become a very easy matter, and so none but very inferiorquantities are permissible. Any additional shells (even when declared, and very fine ground) are illegal. The addition of spices or their corresponding ethereal oils are allowed, and as such may be considered almonds and nuts, more especially in the case of coating material and so forth, although they are subject to compulsory declaration.
The same conditions prevail in the case ofchocolate enamellingandcoatingmaterial as for ordinary chocolate, and in particular they must be free from all kind of foreign fats and cacao shells.
The use of dyes (earth-and tar-colouring matter) which are intended as substitutes for a percentage of cacao, and not merely as ornamental, is not permissible; and such dyes as are objectionable from a hygienical standpoint are impossible, even when they are used for decorating purposes. Cacao material contains on an average from 3-4 % of ash and from 50-55 % of fat.
Admixtures of glue, tragacanth or dextrine are not permissible, when they are intended to conceal an addition of water or to save the use of expensive cacao fat.
Cocoa powdercontains arbitrary quantities of fat, and shows accordingly a varying quantity of ash to correspond with the amount of fat expressed. It is therefore necessary to declare the quantity of fat contained in quite a general manner and something in the following grade: skimmed milk cacao under 25 % of fat, cacao freed from oil, fatty and ordinary milk chocolate up to a percentage not exceeding 35.220For the same reason it is necessary to convert the established ash contents, possibly of cacao material with 50% of fat, or none at all. It is most to the purpose to convert in the case of dry material which has been freed of fat, as occasionally considerable amounts of moisture remain over from the processes of preparation. Cocoa powder which has been disintegrated without the use of potassium, sodium or magnesia agents (carbonic acid) will therefore show the same ash contents as the corresponding material freed from oil, whilst that of cacao disintegrated by means of the fixed alkalis will be greater. The ash contents of powder freed of oil may nevertheless not exceed 3 %, corresponding to a total 7 %. The mixture of cocoa powder and sugar is not permissible.
Chocolates, chocolate fondants and coating mass contain variable quantities of sugar and fat; accordingly no limits can be assigned to the ash contents of these preparations.
A unanimity of opinion as to the least possible amount of cacao for the chemical estimation of chocolate has become an urgent necessity. Hereby it should be established that in good chocolate the fatty contents, apart from the sugar,221exceed a definite percentage.222A minimum percentage of 35% of cacao mass in chocolate destined for export, which must possibly be covered, has been fixed by the council of commerce.
As percentage of chocolate in cacao the double quantity of non-fatty cacao material must be taken, on the supposition that raw cacao contains on an average 50% of fat.
So far traffic in cacao has only been brought under legal control in three European countries, namely Belgium, Roumania, and Switzerland. We annex in the following pages a resumé of the legal prescriptions appertaining thereto, as being of especial importance to exporting manufacturers.
TheBelgianroyal decree of the 18th November 1894 established on the basis of the law for articles of consumption, August 4th 1890, and article 454 to 457, 500 to 503, and 561 of the penal code book runs (according to the “Moniteur Belge” of the 3rd and 4th December, 1894, as follows:
Art. 1. It is illegal to sell, expose or hold in possession for sale, or to transmit, any other product as “all cocoa” than the fruit of the cacao tree, raw and prepared by roasting, hulling and grinding with or without addition of spices, and finally moulded into tablets or reduced to powder form.
It is permissible to sell, expose or have in possession for sale, or to transmit such cacao as has suffered a loss of butter by expressing, provided that the amount of this ingredient is not diminished by more than 20 % of the whole, under the designation “cocoa or cocoa powder”; and again under the designation “alkalinised cacao” (cacaoalcalinisé) such as has had its alkali content increased in special treatment by not more than 3% of the total weight. The declaration “alkalinised” is not, if a matter of mere possession or transmittance in export, to be considered as necessary.
Cacao which has been prepared other than as above described may only be sold, exposed or held in possession for sale, or transmitted, under a special label which declares this special manner of preparation next to the word “cacao” or under a label that does not contain the word “cacao” at all.
The word “alkalinised” or any other words which indicate alterations or additions in the natural composition of the cacao must be introduced on the label in distinct and similar type to the word “cacao
Cacao in which the proportion of alkali amounts to more than 3% is regarded as injurious, and the sale, having and holding in possession or despatch of same for sale is illegal.
Art. 2. It is illegal to sell, have in possession or expose for sale, or to transmit any product whatever, under the designation “chocolate”, that is not manufactured exclusively from shelled cacao, and that in a minimum proportion of 35%, and ordinary sugar, with or without admixture of spices.
Products which though containing the requisite 35% of shelled cacao are also made of other substances than those above signified may only be sold, held in possession, exposed or transmitted for sale under a label that clearly describes the nature of such ingredients next to the word “chocolate” and in the same type, or under a label that does not contain the word “Chocolate” at all. In the case indicated by impressing them on each separate tablet.
Products which contain less than 35% of cacao may only be sold, held in possession, exposed, or transmitted for sale under the designation “cacao bonbons” or some similar description, from which the word chocolate has been rigidly excluded.
Art. 3. Entries of the labels prescribed for the products of irregular composition in articles 1 and 2 must be made on the invoices despatched with the goods.
Art. 4. The box, case or wrapper etc. containing cacao or chocolate which is sold, exposed, held in possession or transmitted for sale must bear the name and address of the manufacturer or seller, or at least some regular and authorised trade mark.
Art. 5. The articles of this decree, as far as they refer to chocolate, are only applicable to ordinary chocolates in tablet, block,spherical or powder form, not however to cream and various sugar confections in chocolates (such as pralinés, pastilles etc.).
Art. 6. Any infringement of the articles of this decree will incur a fine in accordance with the code of fines issued on Aug. 4th 1890, over and above the ordinary penalties.
Art. 7. Our Board of Trade and Agriculture is hereby entrusted with the carrying out of this decree, which shall come into force on April 1st 1895.
The royal enactment of this land respecting the health supervision of foods and drinks and the trade in foods and drinks, articles 154, 155, 156 and 157 of the Health act of the 11th September, 1895, says the “Buletinul directiunei generale a serviciului sanitar” 1895, No. 18 and 19, pages 277 et seq.
No. XIII, Article 137.
No product may be sold, exposed or held in possession or transmitted for sale, under the designation cacao, other than the seed of the fruit obtained from the tree “Theobroma Cacao It may be brought on the market raw, roasted, or powdered after roasting.
Under the designation “Cocoa powder, defatted”, such may be sold as has suffered loss of butter by extraction, provided that there still remains a minimum 22% of cacao butter in the product. As disintegrated cacao may be sold such powder as does not contain more than a maximum 2% of sodium or potassium carbonate.
Art. 138. It is illegal to sell or expose for sale artificially dyed and pulverised cacao, and also such as has been mixed with starch meals, foreign fats or any other foreign ingredients. It is in like manner illegal to mix cocoa powder with shells, and the former may not contain more than a maximum 15% of powdered shell.223
Art. 139. Under the designation “Chocolate”, only the foodstuff prepared from a mixture of roasted and powdered bean and sugar, with or without admixture of aromatic ingredients, as vanilla, cinnamon and the like substances, may be sold and exposed for sale.
Art. 140. The manufacture and sale, as also the exposure for sale of chocolate from cacao that does not answer the several demands of this decree, articles 137 and 138, as well as of chocolate that is mixed with starch, meals, mineral and artificially coloured substance, is illegal.
The association of analytic chemists in this country have issued a book entitled “The Swiss Book of Nutritious Stuffs and Articles of Sustenance”, where the methods and standards prevailing in research work connected with such substances are finally established for Switzerland. This work served as a guide as regards articles of sustenance up to the time when the Swiss food act came into force, and we accordingly annex a few extracts from it, dealing with our subject, cacao preparations.
Definitions.
1. Cacao mass is obtained by grinding and moulding the shelled and roasted cacao bean, without any admixture whatever, or extraction of butter.
2. Cacaofreed of oilis cacao that has been reduced by from 20% to 35% as regards its butter contents by means of pressure under heat.
3.Disintegrated cacao.The roasted beans are treated with carbonic acid alkalis (generally potassium) subjected to pressure under ammonia or steam, and so the cellular tissue of the albuminous substance disintegrated or broken up and converted into a soluble modification (peptone and alkalinous albuminate).224The so treated beans are next dried, reduced, defatted and pulverised.
4.Chocolateis the description of a mixture of cacao and sugar which comes into commerce either moulded or in powder form. The percentage of sugar amounts to between 40 and 70%. Admixture of other substances than cacao, sugar and the usual spices must be regarded as adulterations.225
5.Chocolateandcacao(powdered or moulded) may be aromatised with the following substances: vanilla, benjamin gum, tolu and peru balsam, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.
6.Chocolate fondantsare chocolates with an unusually large proportion of sugar and fatty contents.
7.Milk chocolateis a preparation prepared from milk, sugar and cacao. It may not contain the preserving materials dis-allowed for milk, such as boracic acid, borax, formic aldehyde andderivatives of the aromatic series. It comes into commerce in powder form.
8.Coveringorcoatingmaterial is a mixture of cacao, sugar, spices, with almonds and hazel nuts. This preparation is almost exclusively employed for bonbon confectionery.
9.Medicinal Chocolateis a chocolate or cacao preparation containing additions of medicaments.
Tests and Definitions always to be applied.
Tests and Definitions eventually necessary.
Guide to Classification:
Unripe, badly fermented cacao beans and those which have been attacked by insects or mould or have suffered during transport from the influence of salt-water, should never be used for manufacturing purposes.
Goods prepared from such beans have an unpleasant taste, which it is impossible to get rid of by the various operations in the course of manufacture. The use of all such beans is to be regarded as adulteration. The tests to be applied for determining them are tasting, microscopical examination and perhaps the estimation of the common salt contained in them.
All good chocolates are of a fine brown colour. Grey-coloured or spotted chocolate are objectionable. Spots or the grey colour alluded to may be caused either by damp or heat. At an ordinary temperature the fracture of the chocolate is hard, glassy and even. The quality of the fracture constitutes an excellent basis in judging of the manner and methods employed in working up the raw material.
Cacao and chocolate that become thick and pulpy on boiling are in all probability adulterated with meal, starch, dextrine or resin.
The following are to be considered as adulterations:
1. Admixtures of cacao or other shells, and sawdust.
2. Admixtures of foreign starch, meals, castania and resin.
3. Admixtures of mineral substances like ochre, clay and sand.
4. The substitution of cheaper fats, such as beef and pork dripping, almond, poppy seed, cocoa-nut and vaseline oils.
Limitations.
1. Forcacao material.
AshMaximum: 5% (Porto Cabello 4·65%)226Minimum: 2% (Surinam 2·25%)Cacao butterMaximum: 54·5% (Machalla 54·06)Minimum: 48·0% (Porto Cabello 45·87).226
2.For cacao fat.Melting point 29 to 33·5° C.; freezing point 24 to 25° C.; refraction at 40° C., 46 to 49226; iodine value 34 to 37; point of saponification, 192 to 202.
3.Disintegrated cacao: the amount of added alkali is not to exceed 3%. In no case shall the ash content be more than 8%. This figure is not inconsistent with the above stated maximum ash content, as disintegrated or soluble cacao is manufactured from a mixture of several sorts of cacao, in each of which (although they have been defatted) there is not more than 5% of ash.
4.Chocolate: although at the present time there are no limits fixed for cacao and sugar, it may nevertheless be safely assumed that the fat and sugar together may not exceed 80 to 85%, and that the rest shall be pure non-fatty cacao material, in the proportion of from 15-20%. The ash in a good chocolate does not exceed 3·5%.
5.Milk chocolate: here the separate ingredients require a thorough drying. If the percentage of moisture amounts to as much as five percent, the whole preparation is objectionable and liable to lose its hard consistency.
6.Chocolateà la noisette,oat,meatandmedicinal chocolates. The testing of these takes two chief directions:
1. It must be established that the ingredients given on the label are of good quality, and
2. that only the ingredients there mentioned occur in the packet.
The constituents and their proportions shall be declared on the wrappers in the case of medicinal chocolate.
On the 1st July then, in the year 1909, the act passed in connection with foods and articles of consumption December 5th, 1905 came into force in Switzerland. Thereby the whole of Swiss trade in such foodstuffs and articles of consumption is systematically controlled. Of the 268 articles which are generally representative, we annex here those concerning cacao, powder and chocolate, namely, nos 146 to 149.
Art. 146.Under the designationcacaoorcacao powderonly the pure, unaltered or only partially defatted natural product may be brought into commerce.
A cacao powder may only be described assolublewhen it has been treated with carbonic acid alkalis or disintegrated with steam.
Soluble cacao may only contain 3% added alkalis on the outside.
Art. 147.Under the designationchocolate, only a mixture of cacao and sugar with or without addition of cacao butter and spices is to be understood, and no other may be brought on the market as such.
The percentage of sugar in chocolate may not exceed 68.227
Art. 148.Cacao and chocolate may not contain starch, meal, foreign fat, mineral substances, colouring matter and so-called fat economisers (dextrine, gelatine, resin and tragacanth) and only traces of cacao shell. They may not be gritty nor foul smelling nor otherwise spoilt.
Art. 149.Special products of cacao and chocolate with addition of oats, milk, acorns and hazel nuts must be declared accordingly (as oat cacao, milk chocolate etc.). Fancy confections fall also under this obligation.
Cacaos and chocolates which are put on the market in packets, boxes and packages must contain the name of the firm on the wrapper, or some mark of the manufacturer or salesman which is recognised in Switzerland.
If saccharine, dulcine or other artificial sweetstuffs are added to chocolate, such admixture must be declared on the wrapper.228
Legal control of the traffic in cacao preparations in this country may be expected in the near future.
Austriais indeed already in possession of a law (dated January 19th, 1896) concerning the traffic in articles of consumption, although the special determinations have hitherto not reached perfection, and the treatment of the separate detailed articles must proceed gradually. As in Switzerland, the Association of Food Chemists and Analysts here have worked out designs for a “Codex alimentarius austriacus The work of this code commission is of a purely private nature and accordingly no official importance accrues to it, but it is none the less recognised by all Austrian chemists and has indirectly (and even in law courts) about the same weight as the opinion of an expert, especially as the single articles of consumption are almost exclusively limited to specialists in this country. We therefore introduce the most important points of this code which bear on our subject, although various alterations must be made in these as they succeed to legal recognition, for since the appearance of the code many changes have developed as regards the methods of research.
I. Cacao Mass.
Definition.Under cacao mass is to be understood the material constituting a regular and uniform dough when warmed, which has been exclusively prepared and manufactured from the shelled cacao bean.
Ingredients.Cacao material contains the same ingredients chemically as the shelled bean.
Microscopical investigation should only reveal the presence of seed kernel, and not particles of root, which should be removed in the course of preparation.
The ash may not exceed 3·5%229, the fibre 3%229, and the starch 10·5%. The amount of fat figures at between 48 and 52 percent.
II. Cocoa powder.
(Pulverised cacao, defatted, and disintegrated.)
Definition.Hereby is understood the steamed preparations or the powder obtained by expressing at least half the total fat from ordinary cacao material and further grinding and sifting.
Characteristics.The cocoa powder shall on boiling with 20 to 30 times its volume of water yield a suspension, in which there are no traces of lumpy formation, and which does not show a sediment after the expiration of a few minutes.230Should there be any such sediment, it shall be examined under the microscope.
Cocoa powder shall be sifted and ground free from meal, and may not, on sifting through a miller gauze (No. 12) show more than 5% of material on the sieve.
The chemical composition of cocoa powder is modified according to the degree of defatting. If 30 parts out of 100 are defatted, which is the usual procedure. If 30 parts fat are expressed from 100 parts cacao material, which usually happens, then the cocoa powder contains
30% fat, 5% ash231, 3·5% fibre, and 13%.The amount of moisture shall not exceed 6%.The fat shall be pure cacao butter.Addition of alkalis is not allowed.Microscopical investigation as under I.
30% fat, 5% ash231, 3·5% fibre, and 13%.
The amount of moisture shall not exceed 6%.
The fat shall be pure cacao butter.
Addition of alkalis is not allowed.
Microscopical investigation as under I.
III. Chocolate.
Definition.Chocolate is the cacao material evenly and regularly worked up with cane sugar (refined, ordinary or coarse).
The completely uniform pasty mass, when warmed, is allowed to set in moulds and then forms pieces of fatty appearance, finely granular or close fracture (tablets, blocks).
Good chocolate consists of 40 to 50 percent of cacao mass and 50 to 60 percent of sugar.
It may also contain a small amount of harmless aromatic substances.
Should the sum of the cacao fat and sugar in chocolate amount to over 85 percent, it is termed “Sweetmeat chocolate”, and should the sum of those ingredients be more than 90 percent, the chocolate is to be declared as “Very sweet
All the ingredients in chocolate, after deducting the sugar,shall be present in the same relative proportion and in the same condition as in pure cacao mass (compare I).
Sweetened chocolate is an exception, in so far as it has had in its preparation an addition of cacao butter. Fine kinds are also prepared with an addition of defatted cacao.
Unmouldedchocolate or chocolate powder shall answer to the same requirements.
IV. Cacao surrogate and chocolate surrogate.
Definition.Cacao preparations containing admixtures of meal are to be described as surrogates.
The addition of other substances than meal is inadmissible.
Absence of cacao husk is also required as in I, II, III.
Mixtures of cacao powder, sugar and meal are also to be regarded as surrogates.
The extent of the addition of meal is to be distinctly noted by the seller on the article sold.
V. Couverture (coating mass).
Definition.This includes various preparations of pure cacao butter and chocolate (or mixtures of chocolate with cacao butter and cacao mass), which form a thin liquid, when warmed, and are used for coating or pouring over confectionery. All other substances (roasted hazel nuts or almonds and the like) shall be declared.
Investigation.
To be carried out without exception with all cacao preparations:
1.Determination of fat.The fat is extracted from the dry substance which has been mixed with an indifferent body (sand) by pure and absolutely dry ether (distilled over sodium) or by petroleum ether. Cacao mass and chocolate must first be shaved or rasped.
2.Jesting of the fat.
a) Determination of the melting point in a capillary tube (three days after the fat has been melted into the tube).232Pure cacao butter usually melts at 33° C.
b) Determination of the iodine value; usually 35·0 with pure cacao fat.
It is further recommended to make a refractometric determination, which in a Zeiss butter-refractometer must be 46·5° at 40° C.
3. Themicroscopic testof the substance, from which the fat and the sugar have been removed.
The following are also essential:
I. With cacao mass.
The determination of fibre and ash.
II. Cacao powder.
Determination of moisture at 100° C., of the fibre and ash and examination of the ash (quantitative determination of phosphoric acid and potash).
III. Chocolate.
Determination of the sugar by polarisation of the aqueous solution.
IV. Surrogates.
Determination of the starch.
If it is considered necessary to proceed further, then:
1. Determination of theobromine by a modification of Wolfram’s method, the method employed is to be exactly stated.233
2. In the determination of starch, the gelatinisation is to be carried out under steam pressure and the inverted sugar gravimetrically determined with Fehling’s solution.
An opinion of the quality of the preparation can be formed from the taste, smell and colour of the sample on boiling with water.
InGermany, unfortunately, there is at present no law, which regulates the trade in cacao goods. It is true that there exists the decree of the 14th May, 1879 respecting the trade in food, alimentary substances and comestibles, which contains the usual penal enactments in regard to adulteration of food materials offered for sale. The enactments are supplemented with data relating to the administration of the law, among which a definition of chocolate, as well as the means of judging as to the quality or its adulteration, are treated of. But those data do not in all respects apply to existing conditions, nor do they deal fully with the question as to what admixtures are to be permitted or prohibited, for in the introduction to the appendix A, there is the following statement:
“Like the former provision, the present one is not intended to be anexhaustivedescription of all subjects of the kind referred to, but a compilation of those examples which appear to be especially calculated to serve as an illustration of legislative requirements.”
The data referred to have not an officially authoritative significance, and they cannot be regarded as having established validity in connection with the administration of the law by the police or by legal authorities. (See: Commentary by Meyer-Finkenburg, page 116.)
Even the complete publication of the “Vereinbarungen zur einheitlichen Untersuchung von Nahrungs-und Genußmitteln sowie Gebrauchsgegenständen für das Deutsche Reich”, collected at the instance of the national health department, will not have the effect of giving certainty in the law relating to the manufacture of chocolate. That section of the “Vereinbarungen”, which deals with cacao products, was published in Book III (Berlin, Julius Springer 1912) pages 68-81, but the conditions in Germany are at present only similar to those existing in Switzerland and in Austria. The “Vereinbarungen” are nothing more, than a valuable semiofficial guide for the valuation and examination of food and comestibles, the provisions of which, not being obligationary, have no legal effect. They have long been in need of a thorough revision, as recent scientifical results testify, and indeed “The Voluntary association of German Food Chemists” have for years been engaged in such revision.
The consequence is, that the prosecution of various manipulation which certainly deserve to be objected to, such as the preparation of cacao or chocolate from undecorticated beans, would be difficult to carry out. The Association of German Chocolate Manufacturers has protested against that unsuitable state of affairs, and since a remedy is to be looked for only from the enactment of a law regulating the trade in cacao products, that association prepared a draft act, at its XVII. annual meeting at Leipsic on the 15th January 1893, and has submitted it to the government health department.
That draft is in accordance with the provisions printed on pages 231 and 232 a-e. The provisions of the association in reference to the trade in cacao products also contain the following paragraphs:
§ 2.
It is not to be considered adulteration or counterfeit, within the meaning of the law (§ 10) relating to trade in food materials, comestibles or articles of consumption (of 14th May 1879, Reichsgesetzblatt page 145):
1. When the productions referred to under a, b, c are mixed with meal or other substances for medicinal purposes, provided, they areof a character by which they are distinctly recognisable, or are kept in stock or offered for sale under a designation distinguishing them from chocolate, cacao mass, or cacao powder.
2. When covering or coating material, or sweetmeat chocolate is mixed with burnt almonds or hazel nuts to the extent of 5 %.
§ 3.
Adulteration within the meaning of the law dated May 14th 1879, § 10 (Reichsgesetzblatt, page 145) comprises:
1. The addition of foreign fat to chocolate, cacao mass or cacao butter.
2. The addition to chocolate, cacao material or cocoa powder of cacao husk, meal or other substances, except in the cases mentioned on page 279, § 2, pos. 1 and 2.234
3. The addition of colouring materials to chocolate.
4. The addition to chocolate or chocolate surrogates of any but cane sugars (beetroot sugar).
§ 4.
As already pointed out, the terms of this proposed legislative step naturally command approval and we should be the first to welcome the appearance of a “Deutsches Lebensmittelbuch” or some similar work235, intended to serve as an authoritative regulation of the trade in cacao preparations and as a protection of honest manufacturers against the uncertainty now attending legal proceedings. In that case, other civilised countries might be expected to follow.