At MIA on my latest arrival I was asked and reported the food items as I passed through the staffed kiosk after receiving my GE kiosk receipt - completely approved by APHIS, in this case some granola bars. Politely welcomed to the US. Both times, arriving from HAV and SXM.

Did the officer in the kiosk stamp your GE receipt, so the officer at the exit would know to not ask you about the food?

Just a data point here...

I just entered at MSP declaring food using the kiosk and receiving the "circle receipt". The officer at the desk then proceeded to (apparently) process my entry manually, scanning my passport twice and typing information in to the computer before asking what I had. He then stamped my passport book and the BACK of the receipt so that the officer at the exit didn't see I had already been questioned before asking himself what food I had. It would have been quicker to use the regular line!

Does the layout at MSP allow you to skip the primary inspection officer? Since the receipt with the circle tells you to proceed to "baggage control," skipping primary inspection and reporting to the customs officer at the exit seems to be the best course of action, but that is not possible at all airports.

Got circle @ SFO. CPB sent me to baggage screening, with bags going through X-ray. Told those agents about my turkish delights and black truffles, both of which are OK. They still wanted to see the truffles. Agent says, "Those are expensive!," then sends me on my way. Total extra time in processing: 5 min. No big deal.

I did the declare the harmless non-'fresh' food thing at BOS, I think I had some potato chips. The agent said if I want to play that game, use the paper form, write down what I have, and declare it to the officer when you present the electronic form, that way I'm covered, but select no all on the machine...

Does the blue form have a space to declare the type of food? I thought it was basically the same question, and if you check yes then they ask you "what type of food" and go from there.

Sounds like an agent that's annoyed by the new question and the circles it has resulted in.

In the past with the blue form, I always wrote in what the food was since I only bring things that I know are OK, such as chocolates and cookies. I know not to ever cross borders with meat, fruit, etc.

Yes. On the opposite side of the blue form, there is a table for specifying your declaration (food items, or all items if you are over your allowed amount). Table has a spot to describe the item and for the amount. In practice, I think most people either don't realize its there.

For me, personally, I would rather answer yes to the food question and get the why are you wasting my time, go on, by an agent then get GE (well, Nexus) potentially revoked if they found it and I didn't.

Actually, I did have that happen to me about a year ago in pre-clearance YYZ, where I had cheese bagels (literally - bagels filled with cottage cheese as opposed to, say a Brueggers type bagel with a little cheese on top). I answered yes on the kiosk, and at secondary, said I had cheese bagels, and before I could say another word, the agent did the why are you wasting my time, get out of here, thing. I certainly had no interest in completing the explanation - I got told to go on, so that's what I did.

Shows you how long it's been since I looked at the form!

My answer to the time wasting question would be "Not trying to waste your time, but I know how seriously CBP takes the important of illegal items and I wanted to be on the safe side."

This week I had the opportunity to use the GE kiosks for the first time (new Nexus/GE member). As I was bringing cheese back from Europe, I marked the food question with a 'yes.'
To my surprise, I did receive a big 'X' on my slip, but rather a large circle around the words 'proceed to baggage inspection.'
I ended up spending about 20 minutes in secondary, with the agent typing away my reason for travel (a Mileage Run, where I only spent 24 hours on the ground). He also inspected my bags.

This would probably NOT have happened if I had waited in the non-existent line, and spoke to a CBP officer. So, so far, GE actually hurt me more than it helped me... :(

Chocolates and cookies haven't always been ok for import into the US, and so I always declare them. I follow CBP actions very closely but I don't assume that I'm always on top of changes or all developments on what goodies are not generally permissible at the time of my return to the US.

Consumable foodstuff is always declared by me when I have such stuff.

The point of declaring food items is so that customs can determine what can be imported or not. The important part isn't what can be brought in or not, or that you know, its that it gets declared so they can determine. Yes, cookies and chocolate, are going to be ok, but still should be declared if the question says "food". I was told by an officer once that the only thing that are never ok to bring in is citrus fruits and some specific kind of meat (I think maybe goat?).

Have no idea if the list goes beyond that. However, they want to inspect the stuff, determine where it comes from, and then decide whether you get to keep it or not based on that. If they can't determine, I guess it doesn't come in.

AFAIK, you don't get notes/revocation of the program for declaring fruit that can't be imported. You delcare it, the agriculture officer inspects it, and says yes or no. If no, they take it and that's the end of it. Now if you don't declare it on the other hand, that's where you get into trouble.

FYI - that's not what the customs officer told me when I was selected for a baggage screening for marking 'yes' to the food question.
He recommended marking NO to that question, then verbally advising the customs officer that I have X or Y food items.
He said it's OK to verbally change a declaration. I asked him if he really recommends lying to the machine, and he said that changing a declaration is not lying...
Sounded a bit strange to me.

I just passed through in ATL and got sent to full blown secondary at the exit. I had to argue with the AirServ employee taking the CBP files to put mine towards the front of the queue being GE, which she confirmed with the CBP officers was the correct process - why an AirServ employee is working in an FIS Secondary Facility, I have no clue.

Waited about 10 minutes, and got sent on my way without opening my bags. Both of my friends traveling without GE beat me through, however.