Dark Chocolate Deception: No FDA Standard of Identity for Dark Chocolate

We are passionate about educating consumers that there is no FDA standard of identity for dark chocolate. Without a standard of identity, companies can call a product dark chocolate on the front of a package without using real dark chocolate ingredients! This means consumers are being confused and misled that they are eating healthy snacks coated in dark chocolate, while actually consuming unhealthy chocolate flavored palm oil (saturated fat)!

NuGo is the only company to make REAL Dark Chocolate coated protein bars for many lifestyles. By law, if vegetable fat coatings are used, the ingredients list must state “chocolaty” or “chocolate flavored coating and vegetable oil.” That is the only way you would know it is not REAL Dark Chocolate. Sometimes the listing will illegally state dark chocolate coating.

We were thrilled to see a recent WebMD article mention that there isn’t a standard of identity for dark chocolate.

“The FDA has established very strict guidelines or Standards of Identity (SOI) that specifies what ingredients constitute the various forms of chocolate. However, for “dark chocolate,” there really isn’t a SOI for the term “dark” but there is for semi-sweet (bittersweet) and sweet chocolate, which are often referred to as dark chocolate. The difference between all of them is the amount of chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, and milk content.”

We have seen major news articles about confusing nutritional claims, but those articles did not include Dark Chocolate Deception. Consumers deserve to know what’s in their snacks!