The Department of Agriculture has welcomed a European Commission compromise which will allow Irish-made chocolate to be marketed throughout the European Union for the first time.
A spokesman said the directive, which will allow chocolate products a 5 per cent vegetable fat content, was "the best possible outcome for all concerned". There are two differences between most of the chocolate on sale here and the continental - particularly Belgian and French - product. One is that most of the best-known local brands, such as Mars or Kit Kat, contain vegetable fat rather than pure cocoa butter. The second is that some locally produced chocolate has more milk than its continental rivals.
When Ireland joined the EU in 1973 alongside Britain and Denmark, the three governments refused to adopt EU standards requiring chocolate to contain only cocoa ingredients, gaining opt-outs. Ever since, EU law has allowed each member-state to decide whether to ban the use of vegetable fats in its own and imported chocolate.
In February 1984 the Commission suggested chocolate from the vegetable fat-using countries should have unfettered access to the rest of Europe, but France and Belgium resisted.
In December 1985, a European Parliament vote called for chocolate to be reclassified as "vege late" or a similar name and the Commission shelved its plans to settle the issue. Two years later, MEPs demanded labelling on every packet of chocolate containing vegetable fat describing it as "household milk chocolate", as well as its exclusion from the "quality chocolate" range.
In October 1999, the Commission pushed through the current compromise, thanks to qualified majority voting. The result is that Irish-style chocolate, with a 20 per cent milk content, will be labelled "milk chocolate" at home and "family milk chocolate" on the continent.
This is the only significant adjustment local chocolate companies face in gaining full access to continental markets. Chocolate with a maximum 5 per cent vegetable fats can be sold on the continent with the words "contains vegetable fats in addition to cocoa butter".