The FDA has specific qualifications for classifying standard-of-identity chocolate, each of them with certain levels of cocoa solids and milk solids. For instance, sweet chocolate requires a minimum of 15% of chocolate liquor and up to 12% of milk solids. Meanwhile, semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolate raise the chocolate liquor to 35%. The FDA also requires that chocolates have only cocoa butter and dairy fat as fats. Otherwise, they are not considered chocolate by US standards anymore.

Due to consumers’ health concerns, the industry has been using healthy oils and fats in various food products. These also include chocolates. Manufacturers are constantly researching cheap and healthy alternative compound coatings for chocolates. Instead of cocoa butter, vegetable fats can be a low-cost alternative in producing chocolate coatings using reliable chocolate coating machines in the process. They should also deliver improved texture, taste, and stability because of increased pure fat content in vegetable oils, such as coconut oil. Vegetable-fat, compound coatings are also healthier due to the reduced sugar content. They are comparable to cocoa butter in terms of quality, even without tempering.