Translation of "Graisse de beurre " (French → English) :

Oils and fats (excluding cocoa butter and coconut oil) intended for direct human consumption or use as an ingredient in food

The clients of the Italian based companies, normally reputable butter traders and producers, were attracted by the cheaper price of this product and the possibilities of obtaining further gains through the Community disposal measures and export refunds in respect of butterfat.

(4) Can the Commission confirm that the butter was adulterated by mixing in animal fats (especially beef tallow) from rendering plants and that this was covered up by adding chemical substances?

The fraud operated in the following way, for several years a number of Italian based companies manufactured industrial butter using substances such as animal fat and synthetic materials and have thereafter sold on this 'butter' to clients based in other Member States, more particularly France and Belgium.

The Directive foresees a minimum cocoa content for the various types of chocolate, a demanding minimum standard ("other" vegetable fat limit of 5% of cocoa butter) to protect the name "chocolate", a complete list of authorised ingredients with strict conditions on the types of other vegetable fats permitted: illepe, palm oil, sal, shea, kokum gurgi and mango kernel, all of which are tropical fats similar in their chemical structure to cocoa (intervention butter can no more be used) and clear comprehensive labelling requirements to distinguish pure cocoa based chocolate from other types of chocolate.

In the specific case of Italy, the Commission holds that the obligation to market chocolate containing vegetable fats other than cocoa butter under the designation "chocolate substitute" is a disproportionate measure for ensuring consumer protection.