Shipping Chocolate to the United States
Let’s say you’ve just returned from Belgium, and are craving a particular chocolate you tried while there. You must have it, but you’re 4,000 miles away. Or you’re that Belgian chocolatier, who really wants to expand your business to the United States. How can you both bridge the international gap of importing/exporting this chocolate?
If you haven’t shipped chocolate before, you may not know the process involved or what to be aware of. Most perishable foods can be difficult to ship, but shipping chocolate can take the challenge to the next level.
However, by having an understanding of the general food import/export process and understanding special considerations when shipping chocolate, you’ll be well on your way to successfully shipping this delightful and sweet treat.
General Food Shipping
Shipping food from a different country can be complicated especially if you’re shipping for business purposes. When shipping to the United States, you will need to complete a handful of paperwork just to get the process started. One such document is the US FDA Prior Notice.
The US FDA Prior Notice is very important to importing and exporting food into the United States. A Prior Notice advises the US government of items coming into the United States before their arrival. When it comes to safety and quality control, the FDA and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) are on high alert when it comes to what enters the food market in the United States.
It’s important for the FDA to know as much as possible about the shipped item in order to speed up, or even eliminate, the inspection process. The FDA wants to know what the food item is made of, who made it, where the item came from, where it has been, where it is going, how it is getting there, who’s handled it, and so on.
People shipping goods into the United States need to include the item’s Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) code as a requirement of FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). An HTS code is a number assigned to an item that allows for quick identification of the package’s contents for the purpose of identification and taxation.
A Prior Notice must be sent electronically after all of the necessary information has been gathered. You can do this through the FDA Prior Notice System Interface (FDA PNSI) or the Automated Commercial Environment/International Trade Data System (ACE/ITDS).
For people who process shipments on their own, there are apps like PriorNotify from RudiCoder that can greatly assist. PriorNotify automates the US FDA Prior Notice process. PriorNotify integrates with many ecommerce websites such as Shopify, PrestaShop and WooCommerce.
Chocolate Challenges
Shipping chocolate, whether for personal use or for business, can be challenging, but not impossible. Knowing the difficulties ahead of time allows shippers to be proactive in order to avoid a product arriving melted, warped, or spoiled.
Keeping the chocolate cool is a top priority as chocolate begins to melt at 85°F (29°C). Make sure the chocolate is kept in a cold place until it’s ready to be shipped. However, take care with how you keep the chocolate cold. When chocolate is kept in the refrigerator, it can easily absorb the smells of the other food.
It’s important to consider temperature during the actual shipping. When shipping, consider recipients who live in warmer locations and any location during summer and take extra precautions.
If you plan to ship the chocolate with extra cooling devices, you’ll need to think about how you’ll ship them, too. Get boxes two or three times larger than the items being shipping. The extra space is to be used for ice packs or shock-absorbing padding. The cushioning will protect the chocolate when being handled, as well as shielding it from the sun’s heat. There’s even bubble wrap that can stand up to heat.
With chocolate, time isn’t on your side. Chocolate can only last in transit for about three days at a time. Hence, anything that could slow down the shipping process needs to be avoided. As such, it’s important to make sure that you’re prepared and organized before the chocolate starts its journey.
Another consideration is when to ship. Weekends and national holidays can leave your package sitting in a shipping warehouse for too long, so you’ll want to avoid them. As such, it’s best to ship between Monday through Wednesday. It’s also important to set expectations with your customers, letting them know about the shipping process. You might even want to require that chocolate be shipped overnight or two-day express delivery to avoid a customer dissatisfaction.
What To Do
Homemade Chocolate Gifts created a handy list of things you need to do before you send chocolate:
1. Build your box
2. Tape all the seams (to slow air flow/heat exchange)
3. Measure enough Mylar wrap for the bottom of your package (Mylar adds another level of shielding)
4. Pull the chocolate box out of its cold storage
5. Wrap (or Ziploc) the cooling ice pack
6. Stack your chocolate box with ice pack and pull enough mylar out to fully wrap, then cut
7. Package chocolates like you would a gift, make sure the ends are tucked and taped. This creates a nice cold core
8. Add padding materials to the bottom of the box
9. Add chocolate package
10. Fill in gaps of packing material
11. Add a Mylar shield to the inside top of the package
12. Close the package, tape/seal the edges
13. Ship!
Final Thoughts
There are many things to think about when shipping chocolate. If you’re shipping to customers, it’s important to explain expectations: why it might be more expensive to ship in the summer, why shipping can only be done early in the week, or why the packaging must be so big. This kind of food is very delicate and there is very little room for error when it comes its shipping. And of course, when shipping to other countries, you need to be aware of the Prior Notice, import and export, and general FDA shipping rules.
