Russia’s consumer protection watchdog has vowed to investigate chocolate products after social media users demonstrated its flammability online.
Videos posted by Russian video bloggers show various brands of store-bought chocolate bars igniting after being exposed to flames. Some bloggers investigated the differences in flammability between Swiss and Russian chocolate, while others pointed out that chocolate's main ingredients — cocoa butter and cocoa powder — are naturally combustible.
Following a public outcry, Russia’s consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said in an online statement Thursday that it had ordered for the chocolate brands mentioned in the widely circulated videos to undergo lab tests.
“Rospotrebnadzor notes that burning food is a natural physical and chemical process, whose intensity is related to the product’s composition,” it said.
The watchdog called on consumers to not trust “random sources of information” and to report food of doubtful quality to its offices across the country.
