Academic literature on the topic 'Chocolate products'

ABSTRACT Undeclared allergens in chocolate products have been responsible for numerous allergen-related recalls in the United States. A survey was conducted to determine the prevalence of undeclared milk and peanut in 88 and 78 dark chocolate bars, respectively. Concentrations of milk (as nonfat dry milk) or peanut in three samples of each chocolate product were determined with two milk- or peanut-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. In 75% of the chocolate bar products with a milk advisory statement, milk concentrations were above the limit of quantitation (2.5 μg/g [ppm]), with the majority having concentrations >1,000 ppm. An additional 67% of chocolate bars with a “traces of milk” statement contained 3 to 6,700 ppm of milk. Fifteen percent of chocolates labeled dairy free or lactose free and 25% labeled vegan were positive for milk, all with concentrations >1,000 ppm. Even for chocolates with no reference to milk on the label, 33% of these products contained 60 to 3,400 ppm of milk. The survey of chocolate products for peanuts revealed that 8% of products with an advisory statement contained peanut, with the highest concentration of 550 ppm. All nine chocolates bearing the peanut-free or allergen-free statement were negative for peanut, but 17% of chocolates with no label statement for peanut were positive for peanut at concentrations of 9 to 170 ppm. Evaluation of multiple lots of four chocolate products revealed that milk was consistently present or absent for the products investigated, but mixed results were obtained when multiple lots were tested for peanut. This study indicates that a large proportion of dark chocolate bars contain undeclared milk. The type of advisory statement or the absence of a milk advisory statement on products did not predict the amount or absence of milk protein. In contrast, a lower proportion of chocolates containing undeclared peanut was found. Consumers with food allergies should be cautious when purchasing dark chocolate products, particularly those that have an advisory label statement.

Traditional booths where sensory evaluation usually takes place are highly controlled and therefore have limited ecological validity. Since virtual reality (VR) is substantially interactive and engaging, it has the potential to be applied in sensory science. In this preliminary study, three chocolate types (milk, white, and dark) were evaluated under three contextual settings, including sensory booths (control) and two VR environments (360-degree videos using VR headsets: (i) a pleasant sightseeing tour, and (ii) a live music concert). Untrained participants (n = 67) were asked to rate their liking and the intensity of different chocolate attributes based on the 9-point hedonic scale and just-about-right-scale (JAR). Emotions were evaluated using the check-all-that-apply (CATA) method. Results showed that there were no significant effects of context type on the tasting experience; however, there were significant effects of chocolate type. Milk and white chocolates were preferred over dark chocolate irrespective of the context type. Additionally, more positive emotions were elicited for the dark chocolate in the “virtual live concert” environment. Dark chocolate under the other two environments was associated with negative emotional terms, such as “bored” and “worried.” In terms of more reliable and ecologically valid sensory responses, further research is needed to match suitable VR environments to different chocolate types.

Chocolate is one of the most popular food types and flavors in the world. Unfortunately, at present, chocolate products contain too much fat, leading to obesity. Although this issue was called into attention decades ago, no actual solution was found. To bypass this critical outstanding problem, two manufacturers introduced some low-calorie fats to substitute for cocoa butter. Somehow, their products are not allowed in most countries. Here we show that this issue is deeply related to the basic science of soft matter, especially to the viscosity of liquid suspension and maximally random jammed (MRJ) density. When the concentration of cocoa solid is high, close to the MRJ density, removing a small amount of fat will jam the chocolate flow. Applying unconventional electrorheology to liquid chocolate with applied field in the flow direction, we aggregate the cocoa particles into prolate spheroids in micrometers. This microstructure change breaks the rotational symmetry, reduces liquid chocolate’s viscosity along the flow direction, and increases its MRJ density significantly. Hence the fat level in chocolate can be effectively reduced. We are expecting a new class of healthier and tastier chocolate soon.

Recently, the enrichment of chocolate has become a very interesting topic, along with the management of food industry by-products, such as cocoa shells. Cocoa shells could be a great raw material for the cocoa industry, both for economical reasons (maximized utilization of cocoa beans) and for their functional properties (increased fiber content). In this research, we used untreated and high-voltage electrical discharge (HVED)-treated cocoa shells in the production of chocolate. Different proportions of cocoa mass were replaced with cocoa shells to produce dark and milk chocolates in a ball mill. Additionally, dark chocolate with 15% and milk chocolate with 5% of shells were chosen for further research and to study the alteration of the composition. The rheology, particle size distribution, hardness, and color were determined for all the prepared samples. Treated cocoa shells provided chocolates with inferior physical properties compared to chocolates with untreated shells. Therefore, untreated cocoa shells were selected for further analysis. The addition of both treated and untreated cocoa shells resulted in softening and darkening of samples, which could have a positive effect for consumers. On the other hand, the particle size distribution and rheology were negatively affected. Further research is needed to find a solution for these problems.

The use of lemongrass extract on dark chocolate products is a diversification of processed chocolate products to increase the antioxidant content and sensory pofile. This research aims to study the effect of comparison chocolate and spice extracts, interaction chocolate and spice extracts comparison of lemongrass to antioxidant compounds and organoleptic characteristics, and to know the chemical properties of selected products. This study consisted of two phases: the first stage is to prepare lemongrass extract with the steam distillation method, the second stage is to make products that include chocolate melting, mixing and molding, then antioxidant tests and organoleptic to determine the selected products with quality sensory tasts and hedonic tests/preferences, chocolate product selected test chemical (moisture, ash, fat, protein, carbohydrate, and calories). The results of the study by testing the antioxidant different uses of chocolate on antioxidant components showed couverture chocolate types have a higher %inhibition compared to the chocolate kind of compound, the higher the addition of lemongrass extract, the higher antioxidant activity, in the organoleptic tests showed significantly different the parameters of aroma, taste and after taste, but not significantly different from the parameters of melt, interactions between different types of chocolate use, as well as the ratio of chocolate and lemongrass extract significantly influence antioxidant activity, but do not significantly affect organoleptic test results, couverture chocolate products with the addition of 0.3% spice extract are declared as selected products with antioxidant activity of 83.594%, 1.41% moisture, 1.04% ash, 20.96% fat, 3.40% protein content, 73.19% carbohydrates and total calories 495 kcal/100 grams.