Soap maker can sell bars that smell like food but not look like muffins

An artisan soap-maker, whose business was threatened by an EU safety directive, can sell soap bars that smell like food but not the ones shaped like muffins and cakes, for which she had become renowned.

Charlene Mercieca, 28, made a success of her small business in Sliema selling soap made from natural oils and fruit and bars in the shape of a range of food items.

However, a year after she set up shop, she was faced with a notice by the Malta Standards Authority warning her to stop selling any products that looked or smelt like food but were not because they breached EU rules and were hazardous to children.

“I agreed I would stop making the food-shaped soaps even though this lost me a lot of business,” Ms Mercieca said with a sigh as she wrapped a bar of soap a customer had just purchased.

Apart from the loss of business, she was also made to register her recipes with the authority, at a fee of €40 per recipe. This strained the finances of her small business which marked its first anniversary on Saturday.

She recently threw a party to celebrate her shop’s anniversary and a friend of hers took a real muffin and placed it among the soap bars at the shop. “He then smelt it and bit it... it was funny,” she said with a resigned smile.

“I still have to reinvent myself. Before, 99 per cent of people who walked into my shop ended up leaving with something. Even those who were not necessarily into soaps bought something because they liked the way it looked...Now it’s just a bar of soap; it’s not pretty anymore,” she said.

Ms Mercieca is, however, relieved the authority “relaxed” its attitude and is no longer insisting she also stops producing soaps that smell of food.

Given that most of her ingredients are natural – such as orange, cinnamon, peppermint and olive oil – she would have had to stop producing the bars too.

Ms Mercieca is still worried the EU might come up with some new directive that would threaten her artisan business.

A member of the Malta Crafts Council, Ms Mercieca started making soap as a hobby five years ago and opened her shop, Soap Café, last December after thorough research. She ensures her products are labelled and include batch-code numbers, the list of ingredients and contact details.

The concept behind her business is to sell soap made with natural, local materials in a café like environment where clients can interact with her.

About a month ago she placed an advert, with a picture of her soaps, in a newspaper and a few days later the MSA called her for a meeting. The advert showed images of small soaps shaped like sushi or pastries, which she sold as wedding souvenirs.

The authority told her she had to stop producing her soaps because they were hazardous to children.