Cocoa and Chocolate Products Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Labelling and description of designated products

6.—(1) Without prejudice to the generality of Part II of the 1996 Regulations, no person shall sell any designated product unless it is marked or labelled with the following particulars –

(a) subject to paragraphs (2)(a) and (3), a reserved description of the product;

(b) subject to paragraph (2) of regulation 7, in the case of a designated chocolate product which, pursuant to regulation 3, contains vegetable fats other than cocoa butter, the conspicuous and clearly legible statement “contains vegetable fats in addition to cocoa butter”;

(c) where “milk chocolate” is used as the reserved description or a qualification of the reserved description of a designated chocolate product, an accompanying indication of the dry milk solids content in the form “milk solids: … % minimum”, provided that –

(i) as regards a designated chocolate product specified in column 2 of item 4(a) of Schedule 1, the dry milk solids content indicated is not less than 14 per cent; and

(ii) as regards a designated chocolate product specified in column 2 of item 5 of Schedule 1, the dry milk solids content indicated is not less than 20 per cent;

(d) subject to paragraph (4), in the case of a designated product specified in column 2 of item 2(c), 2(d), 2(e), 3, 4, 5, 8 or 9 of Schedule 1, an indication of the total dry cocoa solids content in the form “cocoa solids… % minimum”;

(e) in the case of a designated cocoa product specified in column 2 of item 2(b) or 2(e), an indication of the cocoa butter content.

(2) Where designated chocolate products specified in column 2 of items 3, 4, 5 6, 7 and 10 of Schedule 1 are sold in an assortment –

(a) the reserved description may be replaced by “assorted chocolates” or “assorted filled chocolates” or a similar name; and

(b) the list of ingredients with which food is required by the 1996 Regulations to be marked or labelled may be a single list of ingredients for all the products in the assortment.

(3) The reserved descriptions “chocolate”, “milk chocolate” and “couverture chocolate” may be supplemented by information or descriptions relating to quality criteria provided that the product contains –

(a) in the case of the reserved description “chocolate”, not less than 43 per cent total dry cocoa solids, including not less than 26 per cent cocoa butter;

(b) in the case of the reserved description “milk chocolate”, not less than 30 per cent total dry cocoa solids and not less than 18 per cent dry milk solids obtained by partly or wholly dehydrating whole milk, semi-skimmed or skimmed milk, cream, or from partly or wholly dehydrated cream, butter or milk fat, including not less than 4.5 per cent milk fat;

(c) in the case of the reserved description “couverture chocolate”, not less than 16 per cent dry non-fat cocoa solids.

(4) The total dry cocoa solids content with which a designated product is required by paragraph (1)(d) to be marked or labelled shall be calculated after deduction of the weight of other edible substances provided for in Note 1 to Schedule 1 but not the weight of any ingredient specified in column 2 of Schedule 1 as an ingredient of that product or of any vegetable fat added in accordance with regulation 3.