Someone using a computer at the Department of National Defence anonymously edited the Wikipedia article of the Caramilk chocolate bar to call into question the authenticity of its chocolate.

The automated Twitter account @gccaedits automatically posts whenever a computer with an IP address associated with the Government of Canada is used to edit a Wikipedia article without logging into an account.

It revealed the edits in tweets Tuesday afternoon.

Cadbury Caramilk Wikipedia article edited anonymously from Canadian Department of National Defence <a href="https://t.co/pdtaXcJVH6">https://t.co/pdtaXcJVH6</a> —@gccaedits

Reporters on Parliament Hill were among those who took notice of the changes to Wikipedia's article on the uniquely Canadian treat.

Caramilk is my favourite, but not sure how this edit relates to DND’s work... <a href="https://t.co/XdoyzbvyPr">https://t.co/XdoyzbvyPr</a> —@LoopEmma

today in troubling national security news <a href="https://t.co/1erA43sDcZ">pic.twitter.com/1erA43sDcZ</a> —@1236

Caramilk Secret continues to elude the Department of National Defence. <a href="https://t.co/BK0ybeKz4Q">https://t.co/BK0ybeKz4Q</a> —@alexboutilier

DND holds the Caramilk secret?? <a href="https://t.co/8FMF0cF1RU">https://t.co/8FMF0cF1RU</a> —@allisonjones_cp

The "Caramilk secret" is, of course, the advertising gimmick for the caramel-filled confection. The "secret" of how Cadbury gets the caramel inside the chocolate was apparently up for sale in this famous ad from 1982.

The edits to the Caramilk article, however, didn't have anything to do with the secret.

The person using the National Defence computer changed the description of Caramilk from "chocolate bar" to "candy bar."

In the Wikipedia Talk page associated with the article, this person claimed that "The Caramilk bar does not meet the legal definition of a chocolate bar in Canada due to the use of vegetable oils in production."

It turns out this is partially true, but misleading.

Canada does have rules about the composition of chocolate. You can't remove the cocoa butter and replace it with cheaper vegetable oil, such as palm oil, and still call it chocolate.

The ingredients of a Caramilk bar do list vegetable oil. Caramel is made by boiling sugar with fats, such as butter or vegetable oil. A Caramilk bar's ingredients also include unsweetened chocolate and cocoa butter.

In fact, even if a bar's chocolate is pure and untainted by any vegetable oil at all, it still can't legally be called a chocolate bar if it contains anything other than chocolate.

Solid chocolate only

According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, "Only a solid chocolate candy, bar, etc., can be labelled 'Chocolate Candy' or 'Chocolate Bar'."

"Candies and candy bars coated with chocolate or milk chocolate … can be named 'chocolate-coated candies' or 'chocolate-coated bars', as applicable," says the CFIA.

So, a Caramilk bar is more correctly called a "chocolate-coated candy bar," not a "chocolate bar," but not because its chocolate isn't real.

The user of this government computer went on to impugn the reputation of Caramilk by saying its exterior was not chocolate, but merely "chocolate-flavoured."

Cadbury Canada's Twitter account had no comment about the anonymous attacks on the integrity of its product. In fact, they haven't tweeted since last Easter.