Chocolate Testing

Eurofins food testing lab brings in tool for qualitative and quantitative analysis of food quality and adulteration. Our laboratory services can provide basic information on the ingredients used in preparation of chocolate and detection of undesirable components or adulterants. Eurofins provides the complete portfolio of nutrifacts & contaminants analysis

Eurofins Portfolio of testing

Our additional services:

• Sampling on site, in accordance with national / international standards
• Consulting and Audits concerning your quality control issues (in your factories and on your suppliers' sites)
• Training of your teams on issues related to quality control, hygiene and HACCP
• Sensory evaluation and product development advice: hedonic tests using consumer panels, qualitative studies, marketing studies, etc.

Chocolates can bring smile to everyone’s face! Chocolate is the most frequently craved food has an uniquely attractive taste and its popularity appears to be mainly due to its potential to arouse sensory pleasure and positive emotions. Chocolates are one of the most popular snacks and drinks and it is also explored as flavouring agent in different food. It is a good source of energy along with proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins due to the presence of a combination of cocoa, milk and sugar. Cocoa has antioxidants, principally polyphenols including flavonoids such as epicatechin, catechin and procyanidins. They help in preventing oxidation of low‐density lipoprotein (LDL) which is in turn reduces risk of heart disease. The antioxidants in cocoa are known to provide other health benefits like endothelial function improvement, inhibition of platelet and blood pressure control etc.

Edible chocolate is a homogenous product and is prepared by mixing one or more of the following components like, cocoa nib, cocoa mass, cocoa press cake, cocoa dust, including fat reduced cocoa powder, cocoa butter along with milk, sugar, fat, emulsifiers, flavouring agents etc and depending on the ingredients they are known as milk, white or dark chocolate.

All kind of food product manufacturing has to follow certain regulations and chocolates are no exception. Chocolate manufacturers have to follow the general specifications for its manufacturing and abide by the regulations. Good dark chocolate would contain at least 70% cocoa (both solids and butter), milk chocolate would usually contain up to 50% and good quality white chocolate would contain about 35% cocoa butter. New varieties like praline have also been introduced. But all the varieties must contain at least 25 per cent of the total weight of the chocolate. It is considered that longer the processing of chocolate, smoother the texture and mouthfeel. According to International standards and CODEX at present, vegetable fats up to 5% are also allowed in the finished product other than cocoa butter for chocolate production. FSSAI has specified that proper labelling of the quantity of vegetable fats should be mentioned in the chocolates containing vegetable fats other than cocoa butter. It can be used in chocolate preparation as singly or in blends, but must comply with the following standards:

• Vegetable fats must be non-lauric (which are rich in symmetrical monounsaturated triglycerides) of the type POP (palmitic acid -oleic acid- palmitic acid), POST (palmitic acid -oleic acid stearic acid) and STOST (stearic acid -oleic acid- stearic acid).
• Vegetable fats being substituted for the chocolate preparation must be miscible with the cocoa butter in any proportion. The physical properties like crystallization temperature, melting point, melting rate should be compatible with cocoa butter.
• The production of the vegetable fats to be used should be by the process of refining or fractionation excluding enzymatic modification of triglyceride structure.

Cocoa butter equivalents (CBE), cocoa butter substitutes (CBS), and cocoa butter replacers (CBR) are some of the common components that are permitted to be added to chocolate for better texture, mouthfeel and economic reasons.

FSSAI regulations allow the use of permitted artificial sweetener and food additives in chocolate products permitting the manufacturers to use

• Edible Salts
• Spices and condiments
• Vitamins and minerals
• Permitted stabilizing and emulsifying agents
• Permitted sequestering and buffering agents

Storage conditions are equally important for safety of a food. Temperature and humidity plays an important role in case of chocolate. A temperature range between 15-17 °C with a relative humidity of less than 50% is considered ideal for storage of chocolates.

While providing with good nutrients, it also has certain negative sides. Chocolates have been reported to be the origin of several salmonellosis outbreaks in children. During manufacturing, production costs can be decreased by reducing cocoa solids content or by substituting cocoa butter with another fat in chocolate. Some small and medium industries add lard to their chocolate and chocolate products blended with vegetable oil to reduce production cost.

Food safety as well as its nutrition is of utmost importance. Presently, consumers are not just conscious about the nutritional value and safety of food and its ingredients, it has been observed that natural foods and food ingredients are preferred by everyone as they are believed to be safer as compared to artificial food additives. Food ingredient adulteration poses a major challenge and has brought negative impact to the food industries.

Contact Us for Chocolate Testing services!

The Eurofins advantages:

• Expert advisers with in-depth knowledge of the method, available and at your service
• Accredited analysis 
• A broad portfolio of analysis for all your raw materials and finished products
• A customer service that ensures the personalized follow-up of your samples
• Online access to your samples and the ability to download your results via the EOL platform (Eurofins On Line)
• A legal and regulatory support possible by our legal expert
• Commitment to national and international research programs

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