Chocolate-Free Chocolate?

One thing my wife Julie takes very seriously is chocolate. She's become quite the connoisseur over the past few years, regularly reviewing high-end goods on The Chocolate Blog, and scouring the Web for new product discoveries. (She even browses the chocolate selections at Hannah's via cellphone every time I stop in there for lunch.)

At the moment she's a bit steamed about the chocolate industry's efforts to relax the definition of chocolate to such a degree that products with zero cocoa butter will still qualify for the designation. (Read her entire post here.) It's a ludicrous premise, one which is becoming all too common in American industry's relentless rush to the bottom in its never-ending quest to cut costs.

If you agree that this is an outrage, you can voice your complaint to the FDA. In the meantime, you might also limit your chocolate purchases to the high-end producers of the product who want no part in such shenanigans.