Volunteers had the truck fully loaded and ready to go on Wednesday and were hoping to send it on its way for distribution at The Gate Church in Oklahoma City that same day. But customs supervisors, who originally told brokers working with the charity that the truck would fly through the border without trouble, changed their tune Thursday, Sauve said.

“They were basically requiring endless documentation and approvals,” he said. ”We’re stuck with a truck with 40,000 pounds of food, totally full.”

It started with a quibble about rice. Customs agents told the charity it would have to unload a skid of Basmati rice because it might contain an invasive species of beetle, Sauve said, so volunteers made arrangements to remove it.

“It looked like that was going to be the final step,” Sauve said. “And then bam – they’re not going to let anything through.”

At about 6 p.m. Thursday, Sauve said volunteers learned the truck wouldn’t get any special treatment as humanitarian aid at all because the president hasn’t declared the tornado damage a federal disaster. Instead, customs agents would consider it a commercial shipment, which means every food item on the truck needs a certificate from the Food and Drug Administration to make it through the border.

“Which, basically, is almost an impossibility,” Sauve said. About one-fifth of the food on the truck comes from companies that ship to the U.S. and has the necessary certification, but he said it would be extremely difficult to get approvals for the rest.

Ken Hammond, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Detroit, said he is unable to comment on specific cases. However, he confirmed that in general, the rules are the same for trucks making commercial and charitable food deliveries....