What would Lucy say?
See’s Candies Inc., a Los Angeles institution whose main Carson plant once hosted a classic episode of Lucille Ball’s TV comedy “I Love Lucy,” today is waging a campaign to preserve what it believes makes chocolate chocolate.
See’s and other premium chocolate makers led by See’s Burlingame-based primary chocolate supplier, Guittard Chocolate Co. are taking on food industry giants who want to broaden the definition of chocolate to allow cocoa butter substitutes such as vegetable oils.
Such a change would cheapen the quality of chocolate, See’s and Guittard say. They’ve even launched a “don’t mess with our chocolate” Web site aimed at stopping the federal government from altering the definition of chocolate.
Currently, a product must contain cocoa butter as its prime ingredient in order to be labeled chocolate. Cocoa butter has been prized for centuries for its rich taste and melt-in-the-mouth attributes.
“We believe the consumer should not be presented with alternative chocolate masquerading as the true chocolate we have all come to enjoy,” said See’s President and Chief Executive Brad Kinstler in a statement earlier this year. The company, which was founded in 1921 on Western Avenue, still has major operations here but moved its corporate headquarters to South San Francisco several years ago.
But some well-known consumer brand competitors want to be able to add up to 5 percent vegetable fat and still be able to use the term chocolate. Vegetable fats not only are cheaper, but may have added health benefits, they argue.
Earlier this year, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents food manufacturers and retailers, petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to broaden the official definition of chocolate and several other food products.
The association’s current chairman is Richard Lenny, chief executive of Hershey, PA-based chocolate manufacturing giant Hershey Co. Also on the board: Brad Alford, chief executive of Nestle USA Inc., which is based in Glendale.
Nestle officials did not return calls seeking comment.
Last month, chocolate traditionalists received a boost when privately held candymaker Mars Inc. came out against the petition.
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to take up to a year to make its decision. Europe already has settled its chocolate wars. The European Union for 30 years prevented British companies like Cadbury Schwepps plc from having their chocolate products which included 5 percent vegetable fats labeled as chocolate. That prohibition changed in 2000.
