Chocolate is more than a product; it’s a complex global system. This one and a half day Master Class provides an evidence-based tour of the cacao value chain - from genetics and post-harvest processing to quality assessment, policy, and market trends - framed by the social and environmental realities that shape outcomes for producers and consumers alike. Sessions blend short lectures, case discussions, and a guided sensory chocolate lab.
Dates: Wednesday–Thursday, May 13–14, 2026
Times: May 13, 14:00–17:30 | May 14, 09:00–17:00 (lunch 13:00–14:00)
Location: The American University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Language: English
Certification: AUR Certificate of Attendance
Led by: Brigitte Laliberté, with Dr. Maria Grazia Quieti (AUR)
This event is hosted by AUR’s Center for Food Studies, drawing on Italy’s distinctive chocolate heritage and Europe’s evolving regulatory environment to illuminate global practice.
Why this Master Class—and why now
The cacao and chocolate sector sits at the intersection of historical legacy, environmental impact, and social inequity. Sustainability initiatives and new regulations are accelerating change, while consumers are urged to make informed choices. Despite chocolate’s economic weight, rigorous, accessible, and scientifically grounded information remains scarce. This Master Class fills that gap.
Participants gain a complete, coherent overview of the value chain with a focus on quality creation, sensory evaluation, and practical levers for sustainable improvement - all guided by a recognized sector expert.
Objectives & outcomes
By the end of the Master Class, participants will be able to:
- Explain cacao’s domestication, global diffusion, genetic diversity, and cultural roles.
- Connect farm practices and post-harvest steps (especially fermentation and drying) to flavor, defects, and product quality.
- Map value-chain actors - from farmers to brands and consumers - and analyze incentives, livelihood constraints, and development opportunities.
- Navigate current policy and compliance topics (food safety and contaminants, EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), traceability).
- Apply a structured sensory evaluation protocol to cacao mass and chocolate and translate findings into actionable feedback.
- Identify innovation pathways in product development, market segmentation, and consumer education (parallels with coffee, wine, olive oil).
- Transfer insights to teaching, research, procurement, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), gastronomy, and R&D contexts.
Who should attend
- Students, academics, and professionals engaged in agrobiodiversity, food processing, food technology, development work and value chains.
- Actors within the cacao and chocolate value chain, including chocolatiers and pastry chefs
The conference will be conducted in English; participants should be comfortable listening and engaging in English.
PROGRAM
DAY 1 — WEDNESDAY, MAY 13 (14:00–17:30)
Session 1: Welcome & Introduction to the food system and its developments:
Maria Grazia Quieti
Session 2: Cacao in the food system: production & Value Chain.
Brigitte Laliberté
- Cacao cultivation, production & processing
- Origin of the genetic diversity
- How cacao moved around the world
- Where it is grown today
- How much diversity exists
- Cacao cultivation, harvest and processing – focus on fermentation and drying
- How chocolate is made - Cacao & chocolate sectors – statistics – production, processing, consumption, market value, farmers’ income
- Definitions and labelling
- Cacao Value chain – actors & stakeholders
Session 3: Sustainability, R & D, Regulations, Trade & Traceability
- Key sustainability issues for the sector & farmers’ livelihood
- Research for Development
- Food safety & contaminants
- Food regulation & trade - EUDR
- Traceability
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DAY 2 — THURSDAY, MAY 14 (09:00–17:00)
Session 4 – Cacao for health & wealth
- Nutritional values across the chain; cacao and healthy aging
- By-products and alternative uses for human consumption
Session 5 – Focus on quality & flavor
- What “quality” means in cacao/chocolate (chemistry, process, terroir)
- Lessons from comparators: coffee, wine, olive oil
- Rewarding excellence and farmer recognition (e.g., quality programs & competitions)
13:00–14:00 – Lunch
Session 6 – Assessing cacao quality and flavor (sensory lab)
- Sampling cacao beans; physical quality assessment
- Processing beans into mass and chocolate for tasting
- Structured sensory evaluation of cacao mass & chocolate
- Turning results into feedback for farmers, processors, and makers
- Reviewing finished products
Session 7 – Market development & innovations
- Current market and trends; packaging and communication
- Consumer education and awareness; segmentation and premiumization
- Quality and diversity as drivers of value and opportunity
Session 8 – Evaluation & closing
Maria Grazia Quieti & Brigitte Laliberté
- Synthesis, discussion, and next steps for application in participants’ contexts
FACULTY
Brigitte Laliberté — Strategic Advisor (Multistakeholder Collaboration, Cacao Value Chain & Agrobiodiversity)
Over 30 years in agricultural research for development and biodiversity, including 15 years focused on cacao/chocolate. Formerly with the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT (CGIAR), Brigitte led the Cacao of Excellence program (2012–2024), engaging 60+ producer countries, and established (2023) the first publicly funded cacao quality & flavor assessment laboratory in Rome that recently moved to Perugia with the newly open Citta del Cioccolato, She led the publication of the first guide on the assessment of cacao quality and flavor. She coordinated the global strategy for cacao genetic resources (CacaoNet). She teaches on cacao and chocolate in AUR’s Master in Food Studies and at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Cremona Master in Innovation in Food Science and Technology). She is Canadian and speaks French (native), English, and intermediate Italian/Spanish. In 2025, she was invited by the Umbria Chamber of Commerce to establish the International Observatory for Cacao & Chocolate with the City of Perugia, the Region of Umbria, the University of Studies of Perugia (UNIPG) and the University for Foreigners (UNISTRA).
Dr. Maria Grazia Quieti — Director, MA in Food Studies (AUR)
Director of AUR’s MA in Food Studies and a former Senior Policy Officer at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Dr. Quieti has designed education and technical-assistance programs on sustainable food systems and rural development with governments, universities, and civil society across Asia, the Near East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. She also served as Executive Director of the U.S.–Italy Fulbright Commission and, at AUR, has held roles as Dean of Graduate Programs and Dean of the University. Her interests include sustainable consumption, policy formulation, and small-scale agrifood investments.
Master Class Learning Format
- Concise lectures & guided debates on interdisciplinary dimensions of cacao sustainable production and chocolate manufacturing.
- Case studies from producer regions and European markets, with an Italian lens on heritage and innovation.
- Hands-on sensory sessions to build a calibrated vocabulary and quality assessment framework.
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Practical details
- Venue: The American University of Rome, Via Pietro Roselli, 4, 00153, Rome, Italy
- Fee: €350 for the 1.5 day workshop (includes 1 lunch, 2 coffee breaks and 1 sensory lab tasting session)
- Deadline for registration: February 12, 2026
Places are limited by design, please book early
If you require further information before applying, please contact foodstudies@aur.edu.