Swiss Chocolatiers Stew Over Oily Recipe : Europe: New regulations will allow chocolate makers to add vegetable oils to the traditional cocoa butter, putting them in line with some other EU countries.

One of Switzerland’s most famous national symbols--chocolate--is about to be Eurocratized, and many Swiss don’t have much appetite for it.

New food regulations taking effect Saturday allow Swiss chocolate makers to add vegetable oils to the traditional cocoa butter, putting them in line with other European countries.

That incenses consumer groups, which fear the quality of Swiss chocolate will decline. They are circulating petitions demanding that the government rethink its policy.

Manufacturers, nervous about a public backlash, have rushed to reassure chocoholics that they won’t tamper with the recipe of the beloved “Schoggi”--the Swiss German word for chocolate, at least in Switzerland. But exports may be another story.

“As Shakespeare said: It’s much ado about nothing,” said a Nestle’s spokesman, Francois Perroud. “There are not going to be universal changes in Swiss chocolate.”

The 150-year-old Lindt company, Switzerland’s largest independent producer, takes an even firmer line. “We aren’t going to change anything. We’re staying with the old recipes,” said Irene Meienberg, a Lindt executive.

Chocolate ranks alongside the Alpine heroine Heidi, watches and holey cheese as one of Switzerland’s most enduring and endearing foreign images.

It earns big money for Swiss companies from tourists visiting the country and from rising sales around the world. More than 53,000 tons of Swiss chocolate were exported last year, fetching the equivalent of $308 million.

The Swiss rank themselves as the world’s biggest chocolate munchers. Per capita consumption was about 24 pounds last year, ahead of the Austrians and Norwegians, according to figures from the industry organization, Chocosuisse.

The chocolate shock stems from government attempts to overhaul its antiquated 1905 food laws and bring them into line with standards in Europe.

The original idea was to revise the rules in preparation for joining the European Economic Area, a 19-nation free trade zone. But even after the Swiss voted against membership in December, 1992, the government decided to press ahead on the assumption that it would be better in the long run to have standards that conform to the rest of Europe.

Hidden among dozens of pages dealing with everything from genetic engineering to cheese standards is one provision saying chocolate may contain up to 5% vegetable fat--such as palm or soy oil. Until now, only cocoa butter was allowed.

Eight European countries have similar legislation. But bureaucrats at the European Union’s executive agency have never managed to push through standards for the whole EU, the Continent’s strongest trading bloc. France and the Netherlands want to protect former cocoa-producing colonies, and Germany is fond of its strict “purity” laws.

“It’s ridiculous for the government to try to adapt to the EU when the EU itself may never adopt such laws,” said Margrit Kruger, president of the Swiss Consumers Forum.

“Chocolate is one of the jewels in the crown of Swiss industry. It’s not right if Switzerland lowers its standards,” she said.

Consumer groups have been joined in their petition campaign by charities that worry about the impact of the new rule on Third World cocoa producers.

Perroud, the Nestle spokesman, said that while the Swiss-based multinational would not change chocolate recipes in Switzerland, it might take advantage of the new law in an effort to boost sales in hot climates.

He said the addition of some vegetable oils, such as palm oil, helps prevent chocolate from melting or turning white in high temperatures.

But Perroud said any changes would be limited.

“The Swiss chocolate industry survives because it makes high-quality products. If the Swiss start going for the mass market, they’ll be in trouble,” he said. “They are more expensive than anyone else, so they have to be better.”