Your 'chocolate' may be mostly vegetable oil

NEW DELHI: Next time you eat a store-bought chocolate bar, check if the pack indeed says 'chocolate'. It may not, given that many of the brands available in the market contain a high level of vegetable fat – much in excess of the global norm of 5% – which manufacturers manage to push by not declaring the product by the name ‘chocolate’.

What has stumped the government agencies is that many of the 'chocolate' bars sold in the market contain as much as 20% vegetable fat, while even a popular foreign brand has more than 5% . "These companies have been taking the escape route that they never claim their products as chocolates and hence are out of the purview of the norms," said a government source.

Waking up to a whole range of products that exploit legal loopholes, the country’s food regulator, FSSAI, is setting up an experts' panel which will look into all these items including sweets, confectionaries and honey.

Agencies found that many of the ‘chocolate’ bars sold in the market contain as much as 20% vegetable fat, while even a popular foreign brand has more than 5% vegetable fat.