Our Recent Issue with the FDA

While recently in London, I came across this fabulous hot chocolate at my favorite tea shop. I instantly regretted the fact that I couldn't take on additional luggage because I wanted to buy several cans for teacher gifts for Christmas.

After I returned home the thought occurred to me that perhaps I could order the hot chocolate from the website. EUREKA! I ordered 44 cans that were delivered to my house 2 days later.

A few days after that we were deciding what to do as VIP client gifts. My thoughts immediately drifted back to the hot chocolate. I went back to the website and ordered 55 more cans.

This time we were not so fortunate. After several days I got a call from the New Orleans field office of the Food and Drug Administration letting me know that my shipment had been intercepted because it didn't have the nutritional labeling in the proper format required in the United States.

Huh?!?!

They told me that if I could get the information required from the manufacturer that they would release my shipment "with comments". You would not believe the acrobatics, international phone calls and general whining it took to make it happen. Finally today the long lost hot chocolate has arrived.

The FDA says that we have to include the USA Nutritional Facts label with each shipment that we send as gifts. We will absolutely do it, but does that strike anyone else as ridiculous?