Boar's Head - Compromise Elsewhere (please, not at our airport)

The look on the dog's face is priceless - he sure seems to want a bite!

This was on the radio today: a baggage-sniffing dog found a roasted pig head, with all the trimmings, in somebody's checked baggage on an international flight at the Atlanta airport. Not something that's allowed, due to rules meant to keep agricultural diseases out. It's definitely a "what were they thinking?" sort of thing to keep in one's luggage:

• I can understand wanting something other than airline food in flight, but it was in the checked luggage, not to mention a bit large for an in-flight snack.
• If it was for later, wouldn't it have made more sense to pick up one here? Unless the plan was to eat it before leaving the airport.

Traveler busted with roasted pig head in luggage

If it's cooked, I don't understand the "agricultural disease" angle. I've also been seated next to people eating far worse smelling and looking foods on airplanes. As for the why, well I know from recent experience, it takes a good long time to properly cook a pigs head, makes sense to do it ahead of time.

It wasn't me though, I don't even have a passport. 

Carey Davis, director for the Port of Atlanta for Customs and Border Protection, issued a statement saying the seizure demonstrates “the tremendous expertise of our four-legged K-9 partners in protecting the United States.”

The agency seized the pig head and destroyed it, saying pork and pork products from other continents are prohibited from entering the United States to prevent the introduction of diseases like classical swine fever, foot and mouth disease and swine vesicular disease.

Tremendous expertise?  Try finding a dog that doesn't sniff that out in a suitcase.

And by destroyed do they mean by consumption?

"Temperature danger zone" is all I can think of with that. 

My buddy was a Customs and Border Patrol agent and worked at the O'Hare airport checking people coming in from international flights. He said lots of people from South and Central America would bring lots of unique foods through.

The best story he told me was some guy from ...south of us somewhere ... had a wooden crate full of bread, dried meats, cheeses. Stuff like that. My buddy x-rayed the crate. Something's not right. Take some stuff out. X-ray that. X-ray the crate again. Finally he X-rayed the empty wooden crate one last time. Now mind you the guy who owns all of this is standing there stoned faced, no emotion. My buddy finally stuck his knife into one of the boards of the crate and cocaine poured out. Dial the phone and the FBI (or whoever) came and collected the guy, reassembled his box of goodies and put him on his connecting flight with his new best friends in tow. I don't remember if my buddy ever said if they caught the guy's buddies at the other airport or not, but he did say his mom asked him if he tasted the coke off of his knife like in the movies. He did not.

RossD said:

The best story he told me was some guy from ...south of us somewhere ... had a wooden crate full of bread, dried meats, cheeses. Stuff like that. My buddy x-rayed the crate. Something's not right. Take some stuff out. X-ray that. X-ray the crate again. Finally he X-rayed the empty wooden crate one last time. Now mind you the guy who owns all of this is standing there stoned faced, no emotion. My buddy finally stuck his knife into one of the boards of the crate and cocaine poured out. Dial the phone and the FBI (or whoever) came and collected the guy, reassembled his box of goodies and put him on his connecting flight with his new best friends in tow. I don't remember if my buddy ever said if they caught the guy's buddies at the other airport or not, but he did say his mom asked him if he tasted the coke off of his knife like in the movies. He did not.

So, he'd hidden something he wasn't supposed to bring into the country - inside something else he wasn't supposed to bring into the country. They'd never think to look for it there!

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

I believe my buddy said that there are food related items that are allowed to be brought into this country.

The thing I don't get is from an international, even a short one from the Carribean, that head is sitting in the danger zone (temp wise) for hours and hours.........I know I'm sure not going to eat some cooked meat that's been sitting at room temperature for hours and hours.

RossD said:

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

I believe my buddy said that there are food related items that are allowed to be brought into this country.

It appears so. ALDI's figured out how to bring in real German sausage. But it appears some items from some countries aren't allowed in even if they're pre cooked. I'd imagine there's some book a couple inches thick of what is and isn't allowed, going by food and country. I don't understand this one fully myself. I remember a flight from England where there was a customs form which implied we weren't able to bring back any produce... and then the airline handed out fresh apples on the plane, which seemed like they'd be a violation on their own.

z31maniac said:

The thing I don't get is from an international, even a short one from the Carribean, that head is sitting in the danger zone (temp wise) for hours and hours.........I know I'm sure not going to eat some cooked meat that's been sitting at room temperature for hours and hours.

Yes, the temperatures were the thing I was worried about too - although depending on where they put it in the cargo hold, it might have been freezing at altitude. Or they may have put it in the section that pets travel in, and it would have been well into the danger zone (not to mention taunting the pets). And there's no way of telling.

Well that wasn't what I expected.

Now all I can think of is this incident. Yes, there is video. It's a bit... interesting.

I'd be more concerned with importing worms.  Cysticercosis.  I've been scrubbed in on surgeries pulling those things out of people's brains.  Um... cook your pork.  Really well.  There's a reason two major religions ban its human consumption. 

I once saw a guy in Denver get stopped trying to get a live box turtle through security.   Little guy sitting in the bin looked sad.   

There's some really serious diseases that can come in to the country through food products. Pseudorabies edit: not Pseudorabies, African Swine Fever, got into Haiti from some sausage.

The United States government made the decision to totally depopulate all of the pigs in Haiti to try to stop it there.

We had to replace every one of those pigs, which was far cheaper than letting it get to the USA. Fortunately, it was successful.

I bet it was a man from an Italian family. His mom told him to bring the leftovers from the family dinner home with him. Have you ever tried to convince an Italian mom that you don't need/want food? It's just not a debate you will win. He probably thought "berkeley it. I'll rather explain to the customs people".  

"But mama! I tried, OK?! They take the food away, mama!"

I've had reindeer sausage confiscated when returning to the USA from Finland.  Disease / "to protect herds" was the reason given.  This was in Dallas where the safety of the nearby reindeer herds is of paramount concern to the locals.

pres589 said:

I've had reindeer sausage confiscated when returning to the USA from Finland.  Disease / "to protect herds" was the reason given.  This was in Dallas where the safety of the nearby reindeer herds is of paramount concern to the locals.

It wouldn't surprise me if whatever they were trying to keep out affected mule deer too.

Given that prion that's going through the deer population, I wouldn't be surprised if that was related to the sausage thing.  Chronic Wasting Disease, or deer variant Crutchfield-Jakob Disease.  You don't want that.

MadScientistMatt said:

RossD said:

The best story he told me was some guy from ...south of us somewhere ... had a wooden crate full of bread, dried meats, cheeses. Stuff like that. My buddy x-rayed the crate. Something's not right. Take some stuff out. X-ray that. X-ray the crate again. Finally he X-rayed the empty wooden crate one last time. Now mind you the guy who owns all of this is standing there stoned faced, no emotion. My buddy finally stuck his knife into one of the boards of the crate and cocaine poured out. Dial the phone and the FBI (or whoever) came and collected the guy, reassembled his box of goodies and put him on his connecting flight with his new best friends in tow. I don't remember if my buddy ever said if they caught the guy's buddies at the other airport or not, but he did say his mom asked him if he tasted the coke off of his knife like in the movies. He did not.

So, he'd hidden something he wasn't supposed to bring into the country - inside something else he wasn't supposed to bring into the country. They'd never think to look for it there!

Something some racers do to get cheats past tech inspection is to kinda-sorta hide an obvious cheat.  The tech official finds it, tells them to make it right or GTFO, then moves on the the next car, having found "the" cheat.

That beagle is killing me - "Where's mah tasty treat, MFer?!?!"

Knurled. said:

MadScientistMatt said:

RossD said:

The best story he told me was some guy from ...south of us somewhere ... had a wooden crate full of bread, dried meats, cheeses. Stuff like that. My buddy x-rayed the crate. Something's not right. Take some stuff out. X-ray that. X-ray the crate again. Finally he X-rayed the empty wooden crate one last time. Now mind you the guy who owns all of this is standing there stoned faced, no emotion. My buddy finally stuck his knife into one of the boards of the crate and cocaine poured out. Dial the phone and the FBI (or whoever) came and collected the guy, reassembled his box of goodies and put him on his connecting flight with his new best friends in tow. I don't remember if my buddy ever said if they caught the guy's buddies at the other airport or not, but he did say his mom asked him if he tasted the coke off of his knife like in the movies. He did not.

So, he'd hidden something he wasn't supposed to bring into the country - inside something else he wasn't supposed to bring into the country. They'd never think to look for it there!

Something some racers do to get cheats past tech inspection is to kinda-sorta hide an obvious cheat.  The tech official finds it, tells them to make it right or GTFO, then moves on the the next car, having found "the" cheat.

 

 

Also works very well for government inspections. Leave them something simple and obvious because they have to find something to justify their jobs. You might as well make it easy for them. 

In reply to pres589 :

The diseases that we worry could be in sausage can be spread to any hooved animals.

There's some cattle in Texas...

generally prepared food is OK.

Food prepared with meat.. not OK

Seeds/Plants... generally not OK.

I bring back chocolate and cookies regurally from overseas..  

Meat products no..

Even the apple/banana they gave you on the plane should be consumed and disposed of before customs or left on the plane..