A call to arms for chocolate lovers

These are the times that try men's souls. Some of the major players in the chocolate industry, such as Hershey, are asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to permit them to replace cocoa butter, chocolate's key ingredient, with vegetable oils and, in the case of milk chocolate, replace whole milk with milk protein concentrates.

Gary Guittard, whose great-grandfather founded San Francisco's Guittard Chocolate Co. in 1868, won't stand for it, and he hopes there are millions of like-minded chocolate lovers out there. Guittard has created a Web site -- dontmesswithourchocolate.com -- to help consumers give the FDA a little what-for.

The public has until April 25 to comment on the proposal to change the chocolate standards. "No one can afford to sit back and eat bonbons," Guittard said, "while America's great passion for chocolate is threatened."