I find airport ag screening to be incredibly lax, to tell you the truth. I often bring some fruit with me to eat while waiting for a departing flight to the US and sometimes do forget to chuck the odd edible (almost always imported from the US in the first place) before boarding my flight.

Conversely, my vehicle has been thoroughly searched MANY times when I've made border crossings between Alberta and Montana. One Customs official even went through the garbarge in my car to make sure that I wasn't bringing anything edible into the U.S.! :rolleyes:

Thats isn't correct. It's possible that cooked meat is a problem, or maybe meat from certain countries are problematic. I've never had any problems bringing Australian meat into the US, as long as it's packaged, showing it came from an Australian butcher.

goodo

I've always been told, chocolate is ok. So I check "NO." Only problem is, I bring a lot, so even though I've never been pulled aside for a random inspection, I'm always prepared to calculate for them just how many boxes I'll be able to eat during those cold Portland winters.

One of the problems with relying on personal experiences to answer this question is that the rules change frequently based on disease outbreaks and such. What may have been true a year or a month ago may not be true today.

I often bring back smoked salmon, and occasionally cheese. I do check the yes box, tell the guy collecting the customs forms at the gate, and he usually (but not always) sends me over to an Aggie, whom I tell and then they either let me go directly or ask me if I have any fruit or meat, and when I say no, they let me go. I think there was one time a couple of years ago when I was first off the plane and through Immigration and no one else was ready to exit that I got sent for an Aggie inspection, and the guy told me I would have had a randomized inspection even if I had marked "No", so it was a good thing I'd answered "Yes."

Always check YES if you bring any food item and list on the back what it is. I have never been sent to Ag search by checking YES. However I was once selected randomly for Ag search coming off the plane. They do the random checks to measure compliance rates.

I'm glad I am not the only one who feels silly ticking the yes box. Whenever I fly back from Paris, I bring back some tinned foie gras. I get sent to the Ag inspectors (every time) who send all my bags through the monster machine, even though I can hand them the tins that they will want to look at to make sure they're properly sealed. This all adds about 3 minutes to my 9 hour trip, hardly worth lying on the form.

I also bring lots of chocolates each time that I go to Europe (2 - 3 times a year). I always check yes and write chocolates next to it and itemize on the back what could be up to $100 worth of chocolates. I get send to Ag about 75% of the times (used to be 100%). I have even got the Ag agent checking my bags by hand once.

Check out this link...the consensus (though there were only a few responses) seems to be that packaged meat from Asia might be risky

I always check the yes box now after an experience at the Canadian border. I had brought a sack lunch with an apple for the bus ride on my way into Canada and hadn't eaten it by the time I recrossed the border back to the US. The customs officer had a question about another item so he checked my bag and found the apple. Then he lectured me for several minutes on checking no and threatened to fine me. I just apologized profusely and said I wouldn't do it again cause the fine was pretty hefty. Anyway, he was not very nice even though it was an accident.

I check "yes" and list the item(s) on the back with something like "commercial chocolate in original unopened packaging." (That was from Mexico last week.) Haven't been stopped, delayed or sent to ag inspection yet (knock on wood).

I always now check yes even for boxed/packaged goods like chocolate .... even if I purchased it in the US and am bringing it back to the US. Some times, I've been told it should be marked "no" or I have had my "yes" answer "corrected" by the applicable government agent.

That said, better safe than sorry by "over-"declaring than not declaring.

My parents and I (we often travel separately) ALWAYS check YES for food, cause we bring crackers or chocolate back. It keeps them distracted by sending us to the agriculture x-ray line, as opposed to having our cash counted and baggage manually searched for other things to tax.

- Pat

I always travel with protein bars and nuts for my hypoglycemia. I used to check yes on the form and wrote something like "packaged protein snacks for a medical condition." Several times the customs people told me I didn't need to check yes for prepackaged snacks like this, so last year I started checking no.

This is so true. Once early morning brain not awake yet in FRA I bought an apple along with other snacks while using up my Euros. Stuck it in top of my pack. Halfway across the pond, I realized I had a NoNo, so I ate it and put the core in the trash. In DTW the cute lil ag beagle came down the line and stuck his nose right where that apple used to be, even though it had been gone over four hours. Told the handler about the former apple and he moved on without opening my bag.