Originally Posted by
ESpen36
Seriously, folks, just DECLARE! The vast majority of food items that the average tourist would want to bring back--candy, chocolates, cookies, other baked goods, etc--are allowed. But anything that is "food" MUST be declared. The declaration form is very clear and explicit on this point, and it is printed in every major language spoken by the vast majority of arriving travelers. There is no excuse.
Note that if you are caught with undeclared items, in addition to a fine, you might have your CBP record flagged, and as a result you could face automatic referral for secondary searches on every future entry to the United States for a period of time...
Well, my packets of French made cat treats were declared, and Agent #1 wanted seize them and fine me on the spot as he claimed that bringing pet foods into the country was illegal. I requested a supervisor, and the two them searched the rule book for about 20 minutes, generating quite a line behind me, and finally the only rule they could find that
might have applied prohibited beef from certain EU countries being brought in for human consumption. Despite my assurances that the product in question would be fed to CATS and not humans, they did keep the beef treats but returned (grudgingly) the fish flavor.
Agent #1 made a big deal of scanning my passport and recording all my data, saying I'd be flagged on any further travel.
On returning from our last trip, when we had carefully selected only fish treats to bring home for the cats, the Ag inspector looked at me and said "Seriously? You were flagged for bringing home cat treats? Next!" and waved us, and the fish treats, on by.