Nothing to Declare...

I consider customs to only be interested in things merchants are bringing in for resale. I never declare things I bought just for myself, and certainly not a $30 item.

I just received a nice package of Spanish jamon (ham) I ordered from an importer. I'll bet Philadelphia customs wouldn't let that through either, but it's perfectly OK.

The rules are clearly stated that you cannot bring meat items into the US.

I had a wooden xylophone confiscated. I bought it in Arica and it was untreated and unpainted wood. Customs takes no chances. It is all about tiny mites, fungus, parasites and other critters. On the customs form, they ask us if we visited a farm while out of country or in Canada we will visit a farm. Customs takes no chances.

Our world is being taken over by invasive flora and fauna.

This even happens within a country and state borders. In Australia on a camping trip from the Northern Territory to Western Australia no fresh produce or meats can be taken across the border. And this occurs at some US State borders I think?

Yes Chris, as well as Fruits, vegetables, pets (Ferrets are illegal in some states as well as Chinchillas, etc)

Thank heavens chocolate is still allowed, or I might be seriously tempted to take up smuggling. I was sorely tempted to try to bring back a smoked Polish cheese recently, but I knew I would get caught. Sigh...

Oh, and those cute beagle sniffing dogs? They aren't looking for drugs, they're looking for illegal meat and cheese.

I'm beginning to think my naive, law-abiding side was in error on this occasion.

We're not talking fresh or alive in any sense of the word here!

It was in a vacuum pack that no scent-hound could have ever penetrated.

I was carrying more alien flora and fauna in my fingernails and the ring around my well-worn wrists and collar than could have been in this!

Let me tell you, none of the stinky cheese was confiscated.

Someone please step up and help make this thread what I'm hoping it can be: A discourse in handling customs with more aplomb and savvy.

If it's just a speeding ticket like fine that's hangs in the balance between recreating a memorable, vacation picnic and watching prime food go to senseless waste, I'd be willing to take the chance.

Who has some real horror stories to tell???

Egg products are apparently verboten. I'm not sure why.

A few years back me and the wife were returning from a visit to Southeast Asia (where she is originally from). When coming back from there, she always loads up on all sorts of things, some of which seem pretty funky to me. The customs man asked if we had any food in our big, giant suitcases. Oh, yeah, we had food, all sorts. They asked for a list. Seriously, you want a list?, I thought, foolishly. OK, they hand us a clipboard and a pen. I hand that to my wife, and I sit down and get comfortable, knowing this is not going to go quickly. She makes a list of about a dozen things, all the while I'm thinking (but not saying) the list should probably be 5 pages long. She hands her incomplete list to the nice customs man, and they start going over it together. They start opening our bags and start going through all sorts of scary-looking (to me) stuff - bags of dried critters, dehydrated fruits and veggies, pastes made from stuff I couldn't identify if I had to. I smile and let them do their thing. To my amazement, none of the things that worry me so much get so much as a sniff or a second look from the guy (meanwhile, I'm getting more and more worried about what that stuff is going to make our pantry smell like in a few weeks, but I don't share that). They continue working through the list. I can't believe he's not flagging any of the really weird foodstuffs in unmarked ziplocks. Then my wife says "moon pies" and he sits up straight. "Moon pies?" he asks, looking serious. She nods and smiles innocently. I'm thinking - seriously, there's probably 10 pounds of stuff made from endangered critters in there, and he's all focused on, of all things, moon pies. Yes, he was.

...continues...

....continued...

For those who are unacquainted, the moon pies in question are not the commercially produced baked snacks made from graham crackers and marshmallow ("scooter pies" when/where I was a kid) that are widely available in the US. No, these are a sort of traditional Chinese custard/baked cupcake/pastry thing, and they are (I'm told) very popular throughout China and SE Asian countries at various times of the year, and a traditional kids treat. I have had them before and they're OK, I guess, nothing that gets me too excited, but my wife apparently misses them. Whatever.

Anyway, when my wife said she had moon pies, the customs guy, who had been surprisingly light-hearted and jocular as we spread out and unwrapped all the crap from our multiple, giant suitcases, suddenly became Sergeant Joe Friday. The rhino horn powder and dehydrated shark fin soup base were OK, but moon pies? That's where he had to draw the line (note: as far as I know, we had no products made from rhino horn or shark fins - just kidding about that, but there was all sorts of bizarre items that looked plenty suspicious to me, and that's the sort of stuff I was imagining).

"The moon pies have to be confiscated....the rest of the stuff, you can pack up and take with you." He took the moon pies ("are you sure this is all of them?" he asked) and waved us through. Seriously? I couldn't believe it. I asked what he had against moon pies. "Eggs" he said, dryly. Eggs? "There are two kinds of moon pies," he explained, "some are made with eggs, some aren't. We can't tell them apart, so we take them all. Sorry."

Sheesh, I guess the guy was something of an expert - maybe he actually could identify all the substances my wife had squirreled away in all those ziplock bags. Assured we had no additional renegade eggs, we were shown the exit. We scooped up all our stuff, managed to close the giant suitcases, and headed out the doors.

So now we know - no moon pies. No eggs. Check.

I don't think eggs baked in goods count,, I think he just wanted the moon pies for himself.
Almost all cakes have eggs in them, and I have brought home cakes ( rum cakes) many times from cruises, and I declare them.

Beats me (pardon the expression). The moon pies have some custardy filling, maybe that's only partially cooked. Or maybe Canadian eggs are OK. In any case, he was pretty clear about it.

I don't know why the vacuum sealed deli pouch was confiscated. But customs has their rules. Often food in packages have to have some sort of "good for export" seal. I have little experience but my own examples. Here in Vancouver, you can buy salmon ready to take with you at duty free shops, but the seal on the package says that it can be taken into other countries. I once bought a few tulip bulbs in Amsterdam, and these had a seal on the package which stated "can be imported into North America"

Flying in Australia, you go through customs and quarantine where almost nothing organic gets into the country.

I can only suppose that if there isn't some indication that the product is good to import, then the customs people can only confiscate everything.

susan - Not to be too snarky, but did you skip question 11 on the US Customs Declaration form that you had to fill out?

1. Mark an X in the Yes or No box. Are you bringing with you:

a. fruits, plants, food, or insects?

b. meats, animals, or animal/wildlife products?

c. disease agents, cell cultures, or snails?

d. soil or have you visited a farm/ranch/pasture outside the United States?

"I don't know why the vacuum sealed deli pouch was confiscated." Reduced air packaging that's been done at a retail store would have no advantage over just a normal plastic zip bag. It's still the same product. One that's been done at a manufacturer and with a special inspection may be different.

For those who attempt to bring in goods, such as meat, and not declare them....here is what could happen if you are caught:

(Best scenario)--you would get a slap on the wrist (metaphorically) and your meat product would be taken.

(Worst Scenario)--the customs agent now wonders what else you are trying to smuggle into the country. You are told to have a seat or are taken to a private room. Your luggage is not only thoroughly searched, they cut into the actual lining of the bag looking for hidden items (they destroy the bag and they don't have to compensate). A strip search is also possible depending on the mood of the agent and your attitude. Above all this, you will probably get a fine, a note will be put on your record, and you may have to go through the same procedure every time you enter the country. It's all perfectly legal. You gave them cause. (This is what is allowed in the U.S. I can't speak for Canada.)

Now, it is extremely rare that you will be subject to worst case scenario, but it is all up to the customs agent. The smartest thing is to declare what you have and not try to sneak in things that are not allowed.

Wait, I know, there are many of you who have been able to get things into the country without declaring them. Guess what, there are people who have committed robberies and never gotten caught. Just because you haven't been caught yet, does that mean it's the smartest thing to do?

Just watched a documentary the other day on the BBC with a woman who was trying to smuggle in an extra two cartons of cigarettes into the UK. Her fine? Over 800 euro!

The reason Customs is so strict with meat products is simple- the agency has been sued by people who were sickened by supposedly inocuous prepared meats that were allowed to pass into the country with full knowledge of the Customs agent. Bill, in all probability, your meat would have hurt nobody. But because a legal precedent has been set, and the agency can be found liable for allowing unapproved products in the country, they will take no chances.

Steve...you'd think the mayo would kill them! ;)

My understanding is that improperly cured meat can cause the highly contagious hoof and mouth disease, as it did in Britain a few years ago resulting in billions of dollars lost and millions of animals killed. So I can see where a country would play it better safe than sorry on this one. (Banning cheese aged less than 90 days just kills me though).

I bought truffle butter(in glass jars) at CDG on a recent trip and the clerk vacuum sealed it and it made the trip home just fine--never would have occurred to me to declare it.

Whew! I'm sure glad the customs guy wasn't excited about my Spanish turron when I got back! I answered question 11 and he said "Go on through."

Turron is candy - perfectly fine to bring in.

True Nancy -- but what if the CBP guy decided he needed it more than me?? :-)

Well, true... the security guy at Heathrow had designs on my Krispy Kremes, but he finally let me through (and he was just kidding - I had spent the night in the airport and that was my breakfast, and I might have looked a little desperate at that point).

I’m curious to know if anyone has ever actually marked “yes” to the farm/pasture question after hiking across the high pastures around Murren, petting goats up in Hallstatt, frolicking among the livestock in the Tirol, walking around the open sheep pastures in Iceland, or similar activity anywhere else. If so, did anyone follow-up with you upon arrival, burn your shoes, scrub you down, or other unpleasant exercise to ensure your hoof and mouth didn't contaminate our happy cows?

We marked yes. Our bags were run through one of those giant scanning machines you see off to the side at customs. Plus, our shoes were given a free cleaning, courtesy of U.S. Customs. Saved us the bother of cleaning them when we got home.

Oh, wow!...

I just woke up from a disturbing dream about the incident.

Anyway...

I never intended to bring the alleged contraband back with me. We just never found the time to eat all the lovely foodstuffs we had bought whilst cruising the backstreets of the Ciudad Vella.

Unlike James from Ansbach, who--with his negative attitude--surely, never got any further than the shoddy souvenir stands at the foot of Las Rambla.
I purchased these delightful picnic packs from:

Vila Vini Teca - Agullers 7

It's just off of Via Laietana, behind the little Santa Maria church, on your way to Port Vell.

It's a grouping of gourmet shops and a wine bar that are worth seeking out.

You think US Customs Agents are tough? You ought to try dealing with Canadian Customs some time. To put it mildly, they are "excedingly thorough" in their inspections. Especially if they think that there's a chance you may have a firearm in your car.
My brother-in-law was driving across the border at Windsor, Ontario two years ago. He's an avid skeet shooter (not a hunter), and had a sticker of some sort on his car with a reference to shooting. He was asked by the Canadian Customs person (a woman) if he had any firearms in his car, and truthfully answered that he did not. He was then directed to pull over for "secondary inspection".
During the next 90 minutes, his car was nearly disassembled by Canadian Customs. When they finished, after finding NOTHING, they curtly told him he was free to leave. The only problem was that they had removed the seats and nearly every other part from his car. When he complained that he couldn't leave with his car in that condition, he was given a sheet of paper with the names and phone numbers of several mechanics on it. He had to pay one of the mechanics $150 to put his car back together before he could drive away.

Oh, they are tough. I was trying to forget my Canadian border crossing experience, but Jim’s post brought it all back in a flash. Driving on business from Seattle to Kelowna, BC and was “asked” to accompany the officers into the building at the border crossing in the middle of nowhere NE of Bellingham because they needed more information around the nature of our business visit. Apparently, our answers to the standard questions weren’t quite right…were we working or training, are those sales incentives gifts or what, where were they made, etc. An hour and a half later, we were on our way after borderline harassment and paying more in duty than the sales incentives were even worth. The officials were just doing their jobs, but it sort of left a bad taste. On the way home, the goofy US official literally just waved us through after a quick peek at our passports. It’s apparently a lot easier to get into the US at that crossing than to get into Canada...at least it was for us anyway.

BTW, that part of BC is absolutely beautiful. Thanks, Canadian friends, for having such amazing natural beauty in the landscape.

I find that interesting, I've always found it easier crossing into Canada than the US. A few years back, my then-boyfriend, now husband, was working (legally) in Virginia for a couple of months, helping out the US arm of the company. I went to visit him one weekend, and they almost didn't let me in since they thought that I was going to stay there. It took me awhile to convince the guy that I did, in fact, have a job/family/home in Canada and that I had no intention of staying longer than the weekend.

A friend of mine also had his car emptied/torn through at the Fort Erie crossing by US Customs.

I did mark the box regarding visiting farmland in Europe-- hiking in the Cotswolds. I tried to explain to the inspectors that the shoes that I hiked in were in my luggage--that seemed to be a real quandry for them--they disinfected the shoes I was wearing! This happened in the Atlanta airport.

I too declared that I had walked in pastures. But I was lucky and only the shoes that had hiked in the pastures had to be cleaned. In Chicago you pick up your luggage and have it with you when you clear the customs so there was no problem digging them out. It was in the midst of the hoof and mouth problem in the UK and I had seen all the horrible things that had happened to the farmers and animals in the UK during that time and so was highly motivated to respond accurately. It sure seems less relevant now since there are few current outbreaks. Pam

Michael...the big difference was travelling on business rather than as a holiday-goer.

Right again. I think the issue was with the incentives we were packing. Even as business visitors, I suspect we would have had sailed right through had it not been for those promotional items. Perhaps we could have shipped them in advance and avoided the invitation to visit with the customs officers inside altogether…another story. Or, we could have flown all the way to Kelowna…yet even another story for another time. The whole thing was very funny later after a couple of beers.

Steve: Yep, but I’m not sure having all of the excessive security measures we have now in place before 9/11 would have prevented the bad guys from doing what they did.

Michael...had you been a Canadian heading into the U-S with the your sales incentives for a training seminar, you would have run into the same hassle going the other way. I think both our countries' customs people go to the same training school! ;)

You’re right, Norm. Perhaps the thing that made it a bit more painful for me was the fact that I had just returned two days earlier from vacation through Iceland, Germany, and Austria and enjoyed the relative ease of crossing the borders in these Schengen states without the hassles of paperwork, passports, questions, etc. I understand the need to control one’s borders, but shouldn’t we be able to move back and forth a little more freely in North America? Instead, we’re tightening things up. Yes, I’m sure it’s no different for our Canadian friends crossing into the U.S.

Whoa folks,

Now you're getting way off topic.

Please let this thread die,

and refer to my new post in "To the West"

concerning more FOOD related issues.

Thanks you in advance for your thoughtful replies...

One more...in college , friends and I-2 females and 3 males-decided to drive from Kent, Ohio to Niagara Falls. Obviously, part of the problem was we left at 10PM. When we crossed into Canada, customs looked at us all, sized us 2 ladies up as the skanky girls they KNEW we were, and said to the driver "and the ladies will behave?" He very seriously said that we would, we drove off and could not stop laughing. First (and last) time someone thought I was a lady...of the night!

I wanted to bring home some frozen clotted cream form the UK but thought better of it. When I got to Customs in Seattle I asked about bringing some in and the agent had never heard of it. He did tell me that if it was not made of cheese he saw no problem with bringing it in. Now I might have to bring my next trip a little forward.

I really don't know how these inspectors keep all the rules in their heads. I think the problem with your product was it was beef from a place with mad cow disease. I say I think because I'm not an inspector and I really can't keep up with all the rules.

Not long ago someone posted something about bringing back shells and sand from a vacation. I thought it was okay as long as there wasn't anything living in it. I was wrong, later I saw something posted that specifically listing shells and sand as non permissable items.

I bring back very little stuff each trip (none of it marginal). I declare it all and never have any issues.

It's always better to declare it and have it taken then not declare it and have them find it. They don't like that and it's their call whether to fine or prosecute you for smuggling.