Hot sauce landed Dallas entrepreneurs in hot water when Texas State fair officials deemed their labels too spicy.
Folks running the Texas Department of Agriculture's (TDA's) Go Texan store thought the phrase "One Lay, but millions screwed!" on Hot Sauce Harry's EnwRONg Shredded Sauce might offend those perusing the prize-winning quilts and doilies in the Food & Fiber building. Dynamite Hot Sauce's packaging looked a little too realistic. As for the turban-topped Bomb Bin Laden Mad Blast Habanero Hot Sauce, which promises to "BURN his BUNS and set his cave-hiding BUTT on FIRE," that's just plain old bad taste, say the powers that be.
"A lot of what we do is aimed at young people and families," explained TDA media relations director Jo Moss.
TDA pulled five Hot Sauce Harry's products from its shelves. VP Bob Harris, who is appealing the ban, turned up the heat when he called the Dallas Morning News.
"I think there are issues of freedom of speech," Harris argued. "Jay Leno and David Letterman would be out of business if they couldn't make fun of Enron, Martha Stewart, and Osama bin Laden." Hot Sauce Harry's, however, isn't sweating it. Its patriotic Hot & Proud Sauce will undoubtedly get more shelf space now.
