You could face similiar consequences if you don't declare fruit when arriving in Hawaii. But I bet you would not be dealt with as politely as the folks in this video were. They read the form and checked the box - obviously not paying attention, too bad for them.
Really? When I presented a sack of mangoes at HNL years ago they sort of laughed at me. ("Ummm.... I bought them at a supermarket in Indiana...")
And APHIS doesn't do involuntary searches of every single traveler's luggage.
I've made plenty of dumb mistakes on customs forms before. Yet no country has ever fined me for making a false declaration, even though legally they surely could have done so.
(Some friends and I even failed to declare carrying more than $10,000 of cash and equivalents, and the agent, upon inspecting our belongings, just corrected the form and sent us on our merry way. In the US we'd probably have been arrested for money laundering...)
At least this has some bearing on real rules, though. Last time I cleared U.S. customs they questioned me about the schools I had attended, the languages I spoke, and other things which had absolutely no bearing on what I was bringing into the U.S. I'd rather be subjected to NZ customs any day! They're just enforcing the (admittedly harsh) law. Plus, I think I might even pay a NZ$200 fine just to avoid some of the long lines at U.S. immigration and customs.