Well, my first renewal has come up and, this is the logical time for trying to get a few new products approved. I tried two basic things: Artisan Bread with Chickpea Flour and Ye Olde White Bread. These were pretty simple (from a regulatory standpoint).
The other two were kind of tests - of what I can get approved. Nothing risque, but something a little less 'plain jane'. The idea of the fig bread (already approved for fig n fennel) was to have two varieties, but one label. Why not be able to 'check a box' as to whether there were fennel seeds or honey - or even both? Then, I could retire the fig n fennel label in favor of this dual purpose label. Ahh, that gave Mr. Inspector a little heartburn. The solution - eliminate the risque part - and just add another label. OK
The idea with the focaccia label was to show the ingredients for the basic bread - and then have alternate ingredients (basil, rosemary, scallions, parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese) with a checkbox. So, again, one label - many varieties.
The good news - the 'checkbox concept' was ok - but fresh herbs and mozzarella were not. He said something about the CFO products needing to be 'shelf stable' and, if I used fresh rosemary or basil or scallions - something might go wrong. I guess he didn't understand that when fresh basil, for instance, was placed on top of a bread (or inside) of bread that is cooked fro 20 minutes at 450º - even fresh basil would come out dried. I decided I would rather have the approval than win an argument,
It was ok to put any of those ingredients into the bread (or on the bread) dried - but not fresh. Alright - then dried it will be.
Approval is expected any day. Last year I found out that I was approved about 2 weeks after it happened - because of Christmas timing.
More to come.
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