Roughly two-
thirds of the entire world's cocoa is produced in Western Africa, with 43% sourced from Côte d'Ivoire.[29] According to the World Cocoa Foundation, some 50 million people around the world depend on cocoa as a source of livelihood.[2] The industry is dominated by three chocolate makers, Barry Callebaut, Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland Company. In the UK, 99.999% of chocolatiers, whether they be large companies such as Cadbury Schweppes or small independents, purchase their chocolate from them, to melt, mold and package to their own design.[30] Despite some disagreement in the EU about the definition, chocolate is any product made primarily of cocoa solids and cocoa fat. The different flavors of chocolate can be obtained by varying the time and temperature when roasting the beans, by adjusting the relative quantities of the cocoa solids and cocoa fat, and by adding non-chocolate ingredients.
Production costs can be decreased by reducing cocoa solid content or by substituting cocoa butter with a non-cocoa fat. Cocoa growers object to allowing the resulting food to be called "chocolate", due to the risk of lower demand for their crops.[2]
There are two main jobs associated with creating chocolate candy, chocolate makers and chocolatiers. Chocolate makers use harvested cacao beans and other ingredients to produce couverture chocolate. Chocolatiers use the finished couverture to make chocolate candies (bars, truffles, etc.)