On September 28, 2002 the Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club became aware of a customer who expressed concern over the fact that the mugs bore the label "made in China" and inferred that they might be manufactured in a "forced-labor camp in China".

The webmaster of the Ratzinger Fan Club removed the advertisements for the mugs while he conducted a personal search for information concerning this issue and requested documentation from the sources of the allegations. Cafepress has also been contacted concerning this matter. To this date I've been unable to find any documentation of this allegation, nor has any been provided. although some people have indicated that this lack of documentation may in fact be due to the current political & economic conditions in China.