Wanted: undercover operatives with a sweet tooth!

"We are conducting searches and gathering evidence to determine the facts.”

Sounds like it could be another major fraud from the financial sector. Or perhaps more skulduggery from the Outlaw motorcycle gangs or old time Mafia families.

But no, the full weight of the law is set to come down on the world of the chocolate makers, an apparently secretive world of supply and demand and one in which Canadians annually spend some 2.3 billion dollars on tasty and sweet confections.

Price fixing is the concern of the Competition bureau and they're hot on the trail, trying to determine if there's more than the secret to the Caramilk bar that Canadians apparently need to know about.

According to a story in the Globe and Mail, Federal regulators have launched an investigation into allegations the Canadian divisions of Nestlé, Cadbury, Hershey, Mars and others have teamed up in a price-fixing scheme in the multibillion-dollar Canadian business of chocolate bars.

Talk of conspiracies and cartels are being mentioned as the investigations get underway, investigations that they say could take more than a few years to complete. John Pecman, the Competition Bureau's assistant deputy commissioner was quick to stress that: “There are no conclusions of wrongdoing at this time,” concluding that the Bureau is just at the investigative stage of the process.

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Still when you think of the cocoa plant and its byproducts, the term cartel certainly wouldn't come to mind about your favourite chocolate bar, then again it's an addiction and one learned from an early age, so perhaps it is the perfect product ripe for the taking.

Just think that chocolate Santa you chomp into on Christmas morning could be nothing but the product of unrequited greed, kind of runs counter to the spirit of giving now doesn't it!

They say that chocolates can make you fat, but it would seem that the consumer may not be the only one living large off of the confection...