Why Melona frozen dessert bars are suddenly so hard to find in Canada

Bronwyn Chhay runs an ice cream cart every summer at a Calgary park. Yet shenoticed in July that one of her most popular treats Melona, a creamy Koreanbrand of frozen dessert bar was proving increasingly difficult to track down.

"We hadn't been able to find them in weeks," Chhay, the owner of ice cream sandwich brand D'Served, told CBC News. "The flavours started slowly disappearing and then there were no flavours, so we were running around everywhere looking for them."

Once a delicacy found only in Asian specialty stores, Melonabars available in a variety of flavours like honeydew, mango, pistachio, ube, coconut and strawberry eventually became a Canadian grocery store staple and adessert menu item at some restaurants.

Chhay realized she wasn't the only one who'd noticed the sudden disappearance of Melona barsin Canada when she made a July 17 TikTok post about them. Itnow hasalmost 225,000 views, more than17,000likes and hundreds of comments from users lamenting the fact they could no longerfind the brand.

Where had the popular ice pops gone? On its official Instagram account, Melona Canada told a user who'd inquired about the treats that the disappearance was temporary because they were "currently experiencing shipment delays."

In a Facebook post, the brand's distributor saidMelona fans could soon expect a non-dairy version of thebarson Canadian shelves.

Butwhy Melona barsdisappeared in the first place was still a mystery.Could it all really be chalked up to shipment delays?CBC News reached out to several government agencies and the Canadian importer to find outwhat happened to thetreats.

Rumours of a dairy dispute

On social media, rumours swirled about taxes and mislabelled dairy productsanddisputes between Melona's parent company, Korean food giant Binggrae,and Canada's dairy commissionthe first ingredientin a classic Melona barislisted as milk.

A Reddit thread about thedisappearance of Melona bars in Canadaindicated that the treats werestill available at some stores, but not others where they'd been stocked in the past.

The Canadian Dairy Commission, which deals with public policy related to dairy products in Canada, referred CBC News to other agencies.

TheCanadian Food Inspection Agency, which manages food product labelling and safety,said it had no record of complaints or food safety investigations related to dairy labelling of Melona products.

A spokesperson for the CanadaBorder Services Agency (CBSA), which administers customs tariffs,noted thatwhile it couldn't share company names or details,importers are responsible for correctly classifying the goods that they bring into Canada, and for paying any duties and complying with regulations set by the agency.

Global Affairs Canada, which controls import and export permits, told CBC Newsthat Binggrae supplies its products to "allocation holders" under what's known as a tariff rate quota (TRQ).

When companies are allocated a TRQ, they can bring specific amounts of an imported supply-managed product into Canada for a reduced duty rate. There's no limit on the amount that can be imported at a higher duty.

'Disagreement' between importer, customs

Binggrae told CBC News that due to a "disagreement" between the Canadian importer and customs authorities,the export of seven varieties of Melonabarshad been halted.

"The import and distribution of Melona in Canada are managed by the importer," the spokesperson wrote, identifying Melona'sCanadianimporter asSeasia Foods, a Vancouver-based company thatspecializes in South East Asian products, according to its website.

According to this list, Seasia Foods is one of only 41 companies that hold a TRQ allocation for ice cream in Canada.

Seasia Foods owner Stanley Uytold CBC Newsthat the dispute with the CBSA relates to whether Melona bars should be classified as ice cream or whether they should be classified as ice bars that contain milk.

"I'd love to import the original version," Uy said.

But for now, hisdistributor says a non-dairyversion of the bars will be rolling out to storesacross Canada in early August in melon, mango and coconut flavours. There's no TRQ required to importthe non-dairy bars.

A non-dairy option

Chhay said the news that Melona would be supplying a non-dairy option"is awesome, because we're able to get our hands on it pretty soon."

Chhayrecalls that when she was a child, the treats were sold strictly at Asian supermarkets before becomingavailable at mainstream Canadian grocery stores,"so they were a little bit more rare." She says she always preferred the melon and banana flavours.

While Melona barswill returnto Canadian stores in August,they will remain dairy-free for the time being.

Chhay suggests that as long as the barstaste the same, it won't matter to Canadians.

"They just want their Melona back."