Chocolate Standard, defects, Remedies And PackagingBy

Monika K.Tambakhe

Chocolate is the “Food of the Gods” And it always will be.Derived from its generic name, Theobroma Cacao – literally

meaning “Food of the Gods”, the main ingredient of chocolates iscocoa, is grown mainly on the equatorial zones of SouthAmerica.

The other ingredients that go into the making of chocolatesare:

chocolate liquor : cocoa beans with their shells removed and fermented, roasted and ground until they liquefy;

cocoa butter: natural fat from the cocoa bean; sugar; lecithin – an emulsifier used to keep the ingredients together;

and vanilla or vanillin and other flavours.

It also may include milk for milk chocolate and fruits, nuts, etc., for speciality chocolates.

Theobroma cacaotree An opened cacao pod with pulp, beans, and nib

Types of Chocolate

Sweet Chocolate

• Contains no milk solids

• Cannot contain less than 15% chocolate liquor

Dark Bittersweet Chocolate

• Contains the most chocolate liquor.

• It is sweet chocolate that cannot contain less than 35% chocolate liquor.

Semi Sweet Chocolate

• Similar to dark bittersweet chocolate.

Baking Chocolate

• Contains no sweeteners and no milk.

Milk Chocolate

• Contains milk and sugar, which differs from bittersweet and semisweet chocolate.

• Cannot contain less than 12% milk and cannot contain less than 10% chocolate liquor.

• Can contain other ingredients but must comply with regulations.

White Chocolate

• Technically not real chocolate

• Contains no chocolate liquor, which is one of the main ingredients in chocolate.

• It’s made of cocoa butter, milk, and sugar.

Codex Standards

Acidity Regulators

•Ammonium carbonate•Ammonium hydroxide•Ammonium hydrogen carbonate•Calcium carbonate•Citric acid•Magnesium carbonate• Magnesium hydroxide• Magnesium oxide• Potassium carbonate•Potassium hydroxide•Potassium hydrogen carbonate•Sodium carbonate• Sodium hydroxide•Sodium hydrogen carbonate•Calcium hydroxide

Limited by GMP

• Orthophosphoric acid2.5 g/kg expressed as

P205 in finished cocoaand chocolate products

• L-Tartaric acid5 g/kg in finished

products cocoa andchocolate products

Emulsifiers

•Mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids•Lecithins GMP•Glycerol•Ammonium salts of phosphatidic acids 10 g/kg•Polyglycerol esters interesterified recinoleic acid 5 g/kg•Sorbitan monostearate 10 g/kg•Sorbitan tristearate 10 g/kg•Polyoxyethylene sorbitan monostearate 10 g/kg

Flavour Agents • Vanillin 1 g/kg

Sweeteners

•Acesulfame K 500 mg/kg•Aspartame 2000 mg/kg•Cyclamic acid and its Na and Ca salts 500 mg/kg•Saccharin and its Na and Ca salts 500 mg/kg

Glazing Agents •Gum Arabic (Acacia gum)•Pectin•Beeswax, white and yellow GMP•Candelilla wax•Shellac

Antioxidants•Ascorbyl palmitate 200 mg/kg•Tertiary butylhydroquine• Butylated hydroxyanisole 200 mg/kg singly or

in combination•Butylated hydroxytoluene•α-Tocopherol 750 mg/kg

Colours

Gold GMPSilver

Bulking Agents

Polydextrose GMP

Processing Aid

Hexane (62ºC – 82ºC) 1 mg/kg

CocoaAs per FSS Rules the minimum requirement for milk chocolates is two per cent cocoa and for Plain chocolates it is 12 per cent cocoa.

Sugar as sucrose (% by mass)As per BIS specification, sugar should not be more than 55 per cent by mass.There is no limit set in FSS Rules for sugar content.

Milk fat (% by mass) Milk fat is the fatty portion in milk and as per FSS Rules it should be a minimum two per cent by mass in milk chocolates. There is no requirement for dark chocolates since milk is not an ingredient there.

Total fat (% by mass) This is the sum of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats of milk solids and cocoa present in chocolate. A mixture of all three in varying amounts is found in most foods. As per FSS Rules, the total fat in chocolate (milk and dark) should not be less than 25 per cent by mass.

Acid-insoluble ash (% by mass) As per FSS Rules, acid-insoluble ash should not be more than 0.2 per cent by mass.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the standards ofidentity forDark Chocolate: must contain at least 35% chocolate liquor and amaximum of 12% milk solids.Milk Chocolate : (based on dry matter basis): must contain no less than25% cocoa solids and a minimum of specified milk solids between 12-14%,including a minimum of milk fat between 2.5 -3.5%.White Chocolate : must contain no less than 20% cocoa butter and no

less than 14% milk solids, including a minimum milk fat between 2.5 -3.5%.

Fat Bloom

Fat bloom is a physical structural defect whichappears during storage of chocolate and ischaracterized as a whitish coating on the outersurface.

Chocolate with fat bloom is not only visuallyunappealing, but theorized to affect flavor andtextural qualities, which are importantdeterminants of consumer preference.there are many factors which may contribute tofat bloom formation such as

poor tempering,mixture of incompatible fats,disrupted cooling methods.temperature fluctuationsstorage conditions,

abrasion or finger marking

Sugar Bloom Formation

Sugar bloom is formed when watercondensation dissolves sugar found on thesurface of chocolate and then evaporates.Dissolved sugar particles separated from thechocolate matrix are allowed to recrystallize onthe exterior, leaving a spotty white appearance.This process occurs when chocolate samples areexposed to warmer environments or conditionswith high relative humidity.

Sugar bloom generally occurs during storagewith relative humidity higher than 50 -55%.Optimal storage for chocolate would be in aclimate with relative humidity less than 50%and without temperature fluctuations.

Packaging1. Foil and Paper Wrap• The traditional packaging for moulded chocolate blocks and tablets is foil and

wrap. The aluminium foil provides some protection against infestation andtaint, while the paper can be brightly coloured with product name also hasthe required legal and nutritional information printed on it. chocolate shouldbe wrapped in aluminium foil, printed or otherwise, and may be linedwith glassine or greaseproof paper. It may be over-wrapped.

• Among the milk chocolates, Amul, Cadbury, Chocon Milcreme, Nestle and Hershey’s are wrapped in aluminium foil and packed in thermoplastic. While Lindt Lindor is wrapped in aluminium foil, it is packed in paper box.•As for the dark chocolates, Amul is packed in tray and thermoplastic with paper box for outer packaging. Cadbury Bourneville is wrapped in Aluminum foil and paper cover and thermoplastic.

Flow wrapThis has the advantage that large no. of items can be wrapped by a single machine over 500a min. in some cases. The pack is sealed tightly and with appropriate choice of material can be a very good barrier to moisture and odour.

The flow wrap initially unwound from the roll and made into a tube by sealing it with heat or pressure.T he product is fed into the tube, which is then cut into required lengths.

Robotic PackingPlacing individual sweets inside a selection box is very labour intensive. Although this is still done by hand in many factories, in some it is carried out by robots.Image recognition system identify that the sweets are the correct shape and which way they are pointing. An arm with a suction system at the end pick up the sweet and places it in the proper location in the box.Much simpler robots are used to manipulate boxes or packages of sweets and put them into outer packages. This type of machinery has dramatically reduced the no. of people working in the chocolate industry.