THE European Community's (EC) recent
attempts to harmonise legislation on
chocolates have kicked up a major controversy. The proposed EC directive
would allow the incorporation of 5 per
cent vegetable fat in chocolates.
Several members of the African, the
Caribbean and Pacific Nations (ACP) -
supported by France - in order to stall
the EC's move, have geared up to
reform a 1973 chocolate directive. The
31 ACP states, accounting for 65 per
cent of the world's cocoa production
and 85 per cent of the EC's cocoa
imports, fear a loss of around US $390
million annually, should the directive
be pushed through. "The replacement
of cocoa butter by vegetable fats
would be disastrous for many ACP
economies, like that of the Ivory Coast.
which depends for more than 35 per
cent of its foreign exchange on cocoa,"
points out Anet N'Zi Nanan Koliabo, the
Ivory Coast ambassador to the EC.
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