Always on the lookout for another piece of chocolate, (of course, I am an aficionada :) I was happy to oblige when the friend I was visiting proudly served me a tray of little chocolate caramel cups that she claimed were "elegant, delicious, European-style and a fraction of the cost of what your website offers".
As I was pondering if I should feel offended or just enjoy the offering, I gobbled up the sweet piece (of which I won't reveal the brand as a courtesy, considering what follows). It tasted quite nice. The milk chocolate ganache-like shell was hard enough (I don't like an easy give), and not too sweet for what I believe to be my educated palate. The caramel inside was yummy, not too gooey either. "Not bad, may I see the packaging?" I asked. I was curious to see how much perfection had been truly achieved. My friend handed me the bag (no, it wasn't even a box, the manufacturer had managed to make them keep a perfect appearance in a ziplock type bag).
I quickly browsed through the ingredients: milk, cocoa butter, corn syrup... I was almost disappointed that nothing seemed totally unacceptable. Until four letters caught my eye. "PGPR". I read again. "PGPR emulsifier". What was that? My friend looked as puzzled as me. I looked at the bag again. It did say "fine quality chocolate" offered for several decades so I was tempted to trust that we weren't seeing proof of the dreaded GMO presence. I decided to look up the acronym on the internet.

What I found was that PGPR stands for Polyglycerol polyricinoleate, an emulsifier made from castor beans and used in candy bars to replace more expensive cocoa butter. A little reassured at first, I was even happy to read that it reduces the fat content of chocolate.  As I read on, the stuff seemed quite innocuous. A plant based ingredient also found in salad dressing and used by food manufacturers to reduce cost. The usual. I decided to look up castor beans, which I had first associated to the animal (castor is the beaver's latin name). We never stop learning. So much so that I discovered that not only has castor oil been considered for use as an insecticide but that it was also used to coerce opponents under the Mussolini dictatorship. Forcibly fed, the oil would cause severe diarrhea and dehydration, and ultimately death!
Although Wikipedia explains that the food manufacturers use castor oil at low levels, should I be worried? What about children? How much can they safely absorb?
As she pushed the candy tray in front of me, my friend laughed at my concern. "if it weren't safe, we would know and they wouldn't use it!" Would we? Wouldn't they?
I politely refused another serving of the tasty treat. "I will continue to favor ingredients I don't need to investigate", I said. With a bittersweet chuckle.