Cocoa solids require the addition of extra cocoa butter to cocoa liquor, leading to a cocoa solids surplus and thus a relatively cheap supply of cocoa powder. This contrasts with the earliest European usage of cocoa where, before milk and dark chocolate was popularized, cocoa powder was the primary product and cocoa butter was little more than a waste product. Cocoa solids contain flavanol antioxidants, amounts of which are reduced if the cocoa is subjected to acid-reducing alkalization. Health benefits have been attributed to cocoa flavonoids. Natural cocoa powder has a light brown color and an extractable pH of 5.3 to 5.8.
Types of chocolate and sugar alcohols (sorbitol, maltitol, etc.) are not permitted. Products manufactured or imported into Canada that contain non-permitted ingredients (vegetable fats or oils, artificial sweeteners) cannot legally be called "chocolate" when sold in Canada. A non-standardized name such as "candy" must be used. Products labelled as "Family Milk Chocolate" elsewhere in the European Union are permitted to be labelled as simply "Milk Chocolate" in Malta, the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland. In Japan, 'chocolate products' are classified on a complex scale (q.v. ). Products using milk chocolate or quasi milk chocolate as described above are handled in the same