Chocolate ingredients deemed beneficial by European government

Chocolate is one of those foods that people tend to feel strongly about for various reasons, and a simple search online can find many articles either praising or denouncing it. The potential health benefits of chocolate, or at least of its base ingredients, seem to attract a high amount of attention and debate. The way that food labels link their products to potentially good side effects can be noble, but care must be taken to ensure consumers aren’t misled.

One chocolate company based in the well-known chocoholic’s paradise of Switzerland has been granted license to claim that its products will give consumers health benefits, according to a press release. That supplier, Barry Callebaut AG, will be displaying chocolate labels describing the perks of consuming “cocoa flavanols” found in chocolate.

The all-clear comes after the European Union Commission decided in favor of the company on this issue, as it noted that the research supports the notion that measured intake of these flavanols “supports a healthy blood circulation by helping to maintain the elasticity of the blood vessels.”

This is the capstone of an ongoing campaign by the company, whose CIO (which in this case means “Chief Innovation Officer”) Peter Boone acknowledged the extent of this accomplishment.

“Receiving the right to use a health claim on cocoa flavanols by the EU Commission is most valuable for us as it is a great reward for long years of extensive research,” he said.

If there’s a benefit that use of your product can result in, it might be worth making a formal submission to a ruling authority so your company can start making labels that are more focused.