YUL: Canadian Customs Sending Me to Secondary Inspection for Declaring Food?
Jul 4, 2019, 8:15 am
#16
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: next to HAM
Programs: LH M+M
Posts: 960
Jul 4, 2019, 10:33 am
#17
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Montreal
Posts: 247
Short: depends if from USA (yes) or not (no). Full list, incl. limits: What Can I Bring Into Canada in Terms Of Food, Plant, Animal and Related Products? - Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Jul 4, 2019, 8:42 pm
#18
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: YYZ
Programs: FOTSG Tangerine Ex E35k (AC)
Posts: 5,612
Sorry to hijack but on a related note, has anyone ever successfully brought home cured meat? Just some small personal quantities.
I’ve had cured meat taken from me on two occasions, so I’m aware it’s generally prohibited. But I was wondering if there was any way to get an exception (Eg. perhaps for certain producers?)
I’ve had cured meat taken from me on two occasions, so I’m aware it’s generally prohibited. But I was wondering if there was any way to get an exception (Eg. perhaps for certain producers?)
Short: depends if from USA (yes) or not (no). Full list, incl. limits: What Can I Bring Into Canada in Terms Of Food, Plant, Animal and Related Products? - Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Elsewhere? Unlikely.
Jul 5, 2019, 12:27 pm
#19
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Montreal
Posts: 247
Which just seems so ridiculous. Maybe this is my ignorance talking but surely cured meats from a developed country like France wouldn't pose a problem to our flora or fauna?
Last edited by gonebabygone; Jul 5, 2019 at 12:28 pm Reason: Quoted wrong section
Jul 6, 2019, 7:36 am
#20
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: YUL
Programs: Aeroplan
Posts: 446
African swine fever - fact sheet - Canadian Food Inspection Agency
https://www.cpc-ccp.com/asf-in-other-countries
Jul 6, 2019, 7:45 am
#21
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Montreal
Posts: 247
Diseases such as Asian Swine Flu (which is slowly creeping across Europe and is currently present in Belgium) can survive for months in processed pork products. The presence of ASF in Canada would be economically devastating. Now multiply that devastation by at least 7 other animal diseases not currently present in Canada but that can one day arrive. Doesn't seem so ridiculous any more I hope…
African swine fever - fact sheet - Canadian Food Inspection Agency
https://www.cpc-ccp.com/asf-in-other-countries
African swine fever - fact sheet - Canadian Food Inspection Agency
https://www.cpc-ccp.com/asf-in-other-countries
I will prevent my stomach from doing the thinking in the future
Jul 9, 2019, 11:18 am
#22
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 71
YUL is my home base.
Indeed, if you have food to declare: don't use Nexus.
Normally the e-form is like this:
- Do you have food?
-- YES
--- Does it contain dairy, plant-based, animal-based, etc...?
---- NO (this will return your previous YES in a NO and you don't get "invited" to secondary)
We had to do secondary checks once (actually, we only talked about it, they never asked us to open any luggage), but never again do I want to live that waiting game again if I can help it. Staff their simply took our verbal declaration of cheese and sent us on our way.
If I bring candies or other super-processed foods, I'm using Nexus.
If I'm bringing home cheese from Europe, I'm taking the regular lane. Although, last time we did that, we got some gestapo interrogation at primary. The guy was trying to get us to admit we were smuggling something into the country, as he thought it was impossible that 2 people could travel with 3 items of checked luggage. He didn't even accept our Nexus cards and wanted to see every piece of ID we were carrying. I guess a rotten apple.
Indeed, if you have food to declare: don't use Nexus.
Normally the e-form is like this:
- Do you have food?
-- YES
--- Does it contain dairy, plant-based, animal-based, etc...?
---- NO (this will return your previous YES in a NO and you don't get "invited" to secondary)
We had to do secondary checks once (actually, we only talked about it, they never asked us to open any luggage), but never again do I want to live that waiting game again if I can help it. Staff their simply took our verbal declaration of cheese and sent us on our way.
If I bring candies or other super-processed foods, I'm using Nexus.
If I'm bringing home cheese from Europe, I'm taking the regular lane. Although, last time we did that, we got some gestapo interrogation at primary. The guy was trying to get us to admit we were smuggling something into the country, as he thought it was impossible that 2 people could travel with 3 items of checked luggage. He didn't even accept our Nexus cards and wanted to see every piece of ID we were carrying. I guess a rotten apple.
Jul 9, 2019, 4:32 pm
#23
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: West
Posts: 3,357
YUL is my home base.
Indeed, if you have food to declare: don't use Nexus.
Normally the e-form is like this:
- Do you have food?
-- YES
--- Does it contain dairy, plant-based, animal-based, etc...?
---- NO (this will return your previous YES in a NO and you don't get "invited" to secondary)
We had to do secondary checks once (actually, we only talked about it, they never asked us to open any luggage), but never again do I want to live that waiting game again if I can help it. Staff their simply took our verbal declaration of cheese and sent us on our way.
If I bring candies or other super-processed foods, I'm using Nexus.
If I'm bringing home cheese from Europe, I'm taking the regular lane. Although, last time we did that, we got some gestapo interrogation at primary. The guy was trying to get us to admit we were smuggling something into the country, as he thought it was impossible that 2 people could travel with 3 items of checked luggage. He didn't even accept our Nexus cards and wanted to see every piece of ID we were carrying. I guess a rotten apple.
Indeed, if you have food to declare: don't use Nexus.
Normally the e-form is like this:
- Do you have food?
-- YES
--- Does it contain dairy, plant-based, animal-based, etc...?
---- NO (this will return your previous YES in a NO and you don't get "invited" to secondary)
We had to do secondary checks once (actually, we only talked about it, they never asked us to open any luggage), but never again do I want to live that waiting game again if I can help it. Staff their simply took our verbal declaration of cheese and sent us on our way.
If I bring candies or other super-processed foods, I'm using Nexus.
If I'm bringing home cheese from Europe, I'm taking the regular lane. Although, last time we did that, we got some gestapo interrogation at primary. The guy was trying to get us to admit we were smuggling something into the country, as he thought it was impossible that 2 people could travel with 3 items of checked luggage. He didn't even accept our Nexus cards and wanted to see every piece of ID we were carrying. I guess a rotten apple.
Jul 25, 2019, 2:45 pm
#24
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: GIG - YYC - SVO
Programs: Lost it all and don't care
Posts: 945
Sounds like a YUL thing.
in YYC when I do this, I just get directed to the other line to see a CBSA officer at a kiosk, where they asked me what I had. After that, I was passed thru. Prepackaged commercially available products get a pass it seems, if you declare them.
I assume had I been carrying fresh fruit items, or something along the lines of what you see people attempt to import on the TV show "Border Security" I would have got sent off to secondary.
in YYC when I do this, I just get directed to the other line to see a CBSA officer at a kiosk, where they asked me what I had. After that, I was passed thru. Prepackaged commercially available products get a pass it seems, if you declare them.
I assume had I been carrying fresh fruit items, or something along the lines of what you see people attempt to import on the TV show "Border Security" I would have got sent off to secondary.
Aug 28, 2019, 1:51 pm
#25
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 71
Interesting that the non Nexus machines (at YUL and elsewhere) now have a supplementary food question (after you say yes to the general food question) asking you about the kind of food and whether it is chocolate, candy, etc. I said yes to that question twice (both times it was chocolate) and had no issues.
Whenever I travel with cheese, I no longer use Nexus at YUL, since (like already mentioned) there's no access to a booth after Nexus kiosks and you can't declare anything to the guy that filters people out for secondary just before the exit.