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Ritter Sport, the German ‘family-owned’ chocolate manufacturers created its latest limited edition ‘Cacao y Nada’ bar, which means ‘cocoa and nothing’ has been told by German food law regulators it can not be called ‘chocolate’.
The new bar is made from 100% cocoa, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, cocoa powder and cocoa juice extract sourced from their own El Cacao plantation in Nicaragua.
The cocoa juice found naturally in the pulp in cocoa beans which has a sweet and sour flavour with tropical notes of lychee and peach is used to sweeten the product, which was approved as a foodstuff by the EU in 2019, but that’s where the problem is. The bar contains no sugar!
According to Germany’s strict Kakao-Verordnung, or ‘chocolate ordinance’, it requires that any product labeled as “chocolate” must contain cocoa mass, cocoa powder, cocoa butter, and sugar, therefore Ritter’s new bar does not qualify to be called, ‘chocolate’
Confectioners who break the ‘cocoa rule’ risk being fined and banned from selling their product.
The German chocolate maker has accused German food regulators of being out of date with modern trends, where people are stepping away from sugar and is heading towards healthier alternatives.
Andreas Ronken, Ritter Sport’s CEO said,
It is absurd that a chocolate, which is totally made out of cocoa and does not need any added sugar, cannot be called chocolate.
Our food laws need to keep up with innovations like this. They must wake up – this is the new reality.
Despite the chocolate bar not being able to be called ‘chocolate’, the company has provisionally agreed to bring out the new bar under the label Kakaofruchttafel or “cocoa-fruit bar”, but has said it will put pressure on the authorities to change its rules.
A limited number of bars is available in the Ritter Sport ChocoShop in Germany or online for EUR 4.99. It will also be available as a limited edition in EU countries (excluding UK), where regulations permits.
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