"He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich..."

[robotech_master]

...which may fly if you're "a man in Brussels" but won't be possible in the USA any longer. It seems that the FDA has banned the importation of the Australian staple food product Vegemite, to the consternation of many Australian expatriates in the USA. Why the ban? Some sort of technicality; vegemite contains folic acid, which by American law can only be added to bread and cereal products. (Pointed out to me in Internet chat by dvandom.)

Of course, many Americans who've tasted vegemite will probably not be that upset at the loss...

Suddenly I have this vision of international mail-order pharmacies adding vegemite to the list of stuff that they'll ship over the American border in plain packaging.

Comments

[robotech-master.livejournal.com]

Interestingly enough, it may not actually be true. It's just that Kraft's spokesperson says that's why the ban was instituted. But an entry in the Talk page for the Wikipedia entry on Folic Acid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Folic_acid#Dietary_Fortification_of_Folic_Acid) states several other issues, such as licensing problems or labelling violations, as reasons. Weird.