Chocolatier & Chocolate Shop Allergen Control, Claims & Net Weight Checklist

Not unless a current spec sheet or test result proves it. Advisory labelling is not proof. FDA sampled 94 dark chocolate products. Of the 88 that did not declare milk as an ingredient, FDA detected milk across several label types. 12 of 18 products (14 of 20 samples) carrying 'may contain traces of milk' tested positive. 23 of 30 carrying an advisory statement tested positive. 7 of 8 carrying an advisory plus a vegan statement tested positive. 2 of 13 labelled dairy-free or lactose-free alone tested positive. 1 of 4 carrying a vegan statement alone tested positive. A separate regulator survey assessed 36 'dairy free' dark chocolate products as a health risk and recalled them. Never answer this from memory at the counter.

Give every bin and loose line its own dedicated scoop, tong or spatula. Never share one between nut and non-nut product. Run a full documented clean-down between milk and dark runs, and between nut and nut-free runs, on every shared line, mould, table and tool. Keep a current allergen matrix at the counter covering every loose, repacked and made-in-house line. It matters because confectionery is over-represented in allergen data. Undeclared allergens were 95 of 201 primary reports (47.3%) in one FDA Reportable Food Registry year. A national survey found undeclared hazelnut in 6, sesame in 3 and peanut in 2 of 376 candy and chocolate samples.

Three packers' rules apply under the average quantity system. Actual contents must not be less on average than the declared nominal quantity. No more than 2.5% of packages may be below nominal by more than the tolerable negative error (TNE). No individual package may be below nominal by more than twice the TNE. The TNE is 9% of nominal for 5–50 g, 4.5 g for 50–100 g, 4.5% for 100–200 g, and 3% for 300–500 g. So a 100 g gift box has about 4.5 g of headroom. This is routinely inspected. Australia's measurement regulator checked over 71,700 lines covering more than 271,000 packages. It found roughly 6% of businesses non-compliant, issuing 3,620 non-compliance notices and 58 infringement notices totalling A$65,250.