NEW YORK: U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents confiscated fruit, certain meats and seeds from travelers to prevent the spread of disease. All fruit taken is incinerated, and meats are steam sterilized until it is safe to dump.
A week before Thanksgiving, chicken and pork rank among the most seized items.
“One grandmother was coming through (Thursday and) she brought a long piece of sausage,” Amadou Drammeh, a CBP agriculture specialist said. “The sausage was not admissible. We took it. She did want to eat it, but we explained to her that this is an inspection area.”
A lot of strange and crazy things come through Customs at Bush Intercontinental Airport. So much that agents have a “Wall of Fame.”
It is also home to strange collections: two glass display cases filled with things like baby bats, bird nest, jars of bird saliva, ostrich eggs, stuffed chicks and canned sheep feet. It’s a show of the airport’s most exotic seizures ever. Most of it was supposed to be gifts for loved ones before being confiscated for health and safety reasons.
CBP agents ask travelers to know the rules and pack only what’s allowed.
