# Sweet chocolate — What a food must legally contain to use its name: FDA standards of identity, in one table

For Sweet chocolate, cfr section is 21 CFR 163.123; category (cfr part) is Cacao Products; composition requirements is Sweet chocolate contains not less than 15 percent by weight of chocolate liquor complying with the requirements of  § 163.111 , as calculated by subtracting from the weight of the chocolate liquor used the weight of the cacao fat therein and the weights therein of any alkali, neutralizing, and seasoning ingredients, and multiplying the remainder by 2.2, dividing the result by the weight of the finished sweet chocolate, and multiplying the quotient by 100. The finished sweet chocolate contains less than 12 percent by weight of total milk solids; what separates it from neighbours is Semisweet chocolate or bittersweet chocolate is sweet chocolate that contains not less than 35 percent by weight of chocolate liquor, recorded from its source on 2026-08-11.

- **CFR section:** 21 CFR 163.123 _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Standardized food:** Sweet chocolate _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Category (CFR part):** Cacao Products _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Composition requirements:** Sweet chocolate contains not less than 15 percent by weight of chocolate liquor complying with the requirements of  § 163.111 , as calculated by subtracting from the weight of the chocolate liquor used the weight of the cacao fat therein and the weights therein of any alkali, neutralizing, and seasoning ingredients, and multiplying the remainder by 2.2, dividing the result by the weight of the finished sweet chocolate, and multiplying the quotient by 100. The finished sweet chocolate contains less than 12 percent by weight of total milk solids _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **What separates it from neighbours:** Semisweet chocolate or bittersweet chocolate is sweet chocolate that contains not less than 35 percent by weight of chocolate liquor _(verified: appears in the quote below)_

## What the source says

> § 163.123 Sweet chocolate. ( a ) Description. ( 1 ) Sweet chocolate is the solid or semiplastic food prepared by intimately mixing and grinding chocolate liquor with one or more optional nutritive carbohydrate sweeteners, and may contain one or more of the other optional ingredients specified in <https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/section-163.123#p-163.123(b)> paragraph (b) of this section. ( 2 ) Sweet chocolate contains not less than 15 percent by weight of chocolate liquor complying with the requirements of <https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/section-163.111> § 163.111 , as calculated by subtracting from the weight of the chocolate liquor used the weight of the cacao fat therein and the weights therein of any alkali, neutralizing, and seasoning ingredients, and multiplying the remainder by 2.2, dividing the result by the weight of the finished sweet chocolate, and multiplying the quotient by 100. The finished sweet chocolate contains less than 12 percent by weight of total milk solids based on those dairy ingredients specified in <https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/section-163.123#p-163.123(b)(4)> paragraph (b)(4) of this section, exclusive of any added sweetener or other dairy derived ingredient that is added beyond that amount that is normally present in the specified dairy ingredient. ( 3 ) Semisweet chocolate or bittersweet chocolate is sweet chocolate that contains not less than 35 percent by weight of chocolate liquor

## Source

- https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-163

Last verified: 2026-08-11. Review by: 2027-08-11.
Part of [What a food must legally contain to use its name: FDA standards of identity, in one table](https://referencesource.org/food-standards-of-identity/).