Nordchocolate-owned brand Kaakao is pushing for a change in EU legislation so that it can call its date-sweetened cocoa bars ‘chocolate’.
Kaakao bars are made with cocoa, cocoa butter, coconut milk and sweetened with dates. According to European legislators, chocolate by definition is a combination of cocoa and added sugar.
Dates, which contain naturally occurring fructose and glucose, are not classified as sugar, and therefore Kaakao cannot be called chocolate under EU law.
Now the brand’s founder, Stephanie Seege, hopes to raise awareness around food labelling legislation with the aim of pushing lawmakers to rethink current rules, while also teaching consumers how to decipher what they are about to eat or buy.
“An organic chocolate bar made with four premium ingredients that can’t be called chocolate is a great example of how confusing current food labelling laws are,” she said. “How are consumers supposed to understand what we make? We want to change that.”
Driven by frustration at the poor selection of sweet products available for restricted diets, Seege set out to create an indulgent chocolate that tastes the same as what was already on the market, but free from traditional sugar, allergens and other ingredients.
Years were spent developing the recipe and sourcing new ingredients. The code was finally cracked together with a Swiss partner, paving the way for what the brand describes as a new ‘not-chocolate’ category.
UK-based Kaakao claims to have created “the same chocolaty taste and texture that people were used to, but without using any traditional sugar”. The bars are suitable for vegans, diabetics, and people with allergies and intolerances.
Currently two bars are available – original, and strawberry and vanilla – with a third to be launched in the autumn.
Meanwhile, Stephanie aims to increase awareness about the brand’s legal problems so its bars can be classified as chocolate.
“We are currently trying to create change with the help of media,” she said. “A while back we tried changing our tax class, arguing that we shouldn’t be taxed as chocolate if we can’t call our product that. It wasn’t well received.
“Therefore, we’re creating buzz around the ridiculous situation by getting people talking about it and raising awareness around food labelling laws. If people start understanding how confusing they are, we hopefully will push legislators to rethink the current laws.”
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