Restrictions in place after an alleged plot to blow up U.S.-bound aircraft are forcing airport businesses that sell edible local specialties to conjure up resourceful ideas for maintaining their temperature sensitive products. However, if you have a prescription that needs to be refrigerated, you're out of luck.

Omaha Steaks has been selling cuts of meat at Omaha's Eppley Field for more than three decades. Their sales kiosks are located upstairs - outside the security checkpoint. But most travelers have already checked their bags downstairs by the time they walk past the meat counter.

Prior to the U.S. Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) "no liquids" enforcement, the frozen steaks were kept cold using gel packs and many people carried the packages through security and stored them on board. Not any more. As a result, Omaha Steaks carry-on sales have plummeted and they are offering free shipping on purchases of $50.00 or more.

Clearwater Seafoods of Bedford, Nova Scotia, has retail sales of more than $4 million dollars at Halifax International Airport. Sales have dropped off considerably since the restrictions took affect. Their airport locations which sell live and cooked lobster - both of which have to be kept cold - have ingeniously resorted to packing the crustaceans in frozen vegetables - peas, carrots and cauliflower, a solution acceptable to the TSA.

There is no practical solution for passengers who carry-on prescription medications such as insulin and injectable biologics, where only short term exposure to temperatures outside of refrigeration can affect the integrity of the drug.

My colleagues and I have begun discussions with officials at the TSA to determine a way to resolve this critical issue and find a solution that will meet security requirements while providing peace of mind to patients traveling with their life-saving prescriptions.

Restrictions, as of today, have relaxed a bit. For how long and to what extent, depends on the the severity of the next threat. Meantime, we continue to live with the minor inconvenience of TSA prohibitions and restrictions - which provides a bit of a predicament to the young man in the cartoon below from the imagination of my son, Rory.