What's inside your chocolate, cocoa butter or vegetable fat?

The regulator is planning stricter labelling rules to make it clear which chocolate product is made with cocoa butter.

- Priyanka Sharma

Is the chocolate that Indians eat actually chocolate? That's the question that India's food regulator wants answered.

The regulator is planning stricter labelling rules to make it clear which chocolate product is made with cocoa butter to distinguish it easily from cheaper substitutes that rely on vegetable fats.

The move could reshape India’s $3 billion chocolate market, where nearly 80% of products are estimated to fall into the so-called imitation category that blend cocoa and flavouring agents besides vegetable fats.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) plans to mandate that the term “imitation chocolate” be prominently displayed on the front of product packs, according to two government officials and documents reviewed by Mint.

The move is intended to help consumers easily spot products with vegetable fats such as palm oil and hydrogenated fats, popularly termed Dalda or vanaspati ghee and medically identified as a harmful dietary fat.