another silly what food to declare question

[alyssa'smom]

hi guys i have a autistic son and who is a fussy breakfast eater i am wanting to take mcvitie waffles and choc spread he eats them cold so no need to warm up so these are perfect just for a quick breakfast in hotel room but do i have to declare them ive taken cereal before and dont declare that sorry for silly questions just wanted to make sure many thanks

 

[disneyholic family]

ok - i finally was able to find a copy that was big enough for me to read the fine print and it still says "food" on it.

and by the regulations, if you have any food, whether permitted or not, you're supposed to declare it.

so you should have been declaring the cereal as well..

i usually have candy or cookies - so i check "yes" and then when they ask me what i have i say candy/cookies..

 

[alyssa'smom]

thanks for that i will tick yes to be on safe side

 

[Li-sa]

Oh, I was going to ask the same question.
I'm taking cereal, teabags and marmite...are those all ok?

If you tick yes on the form, what happens next when you arrive in the US? Do they have a red and green channel to go through at the airport?

 

[catherine]

Oh, I was going to ask the same question.
I'm taking cereal, teabags and marmite...are those all ok?

If you tick yes on the form, what happens next when you arrive in the US? Do they have a red and green channel to go through at the airport?

I'm sure that all of those would be ok! Whatever you do don't take Oxo cubes! On our last trip we were pulled by the food police for a random search. They went through 2 of our suitcases and one of the things that they were looking for was Oxo cubes, the guy said that lots of British tourists have them!

 

[disneyholic family]

Oh, I was going to ask the same question.
I'm taking cereal, teabags and marmite...are those all ok?

If you tick yes on the form, what happens next when you arrive in the US? Do they have a red and green channel to go through at the airport?

no - everyone goes through the same place....the guy looks at your form and says "what food are you bringing in?"
and you say, whatever it is...
and if it's ok, he says ok ...
and if it's not ok, he sends you over to the people who'll confiscate whatever it is that's not ok...

we accidentally brought in a big no no one time...a dried salami...
we'd brought it in every year, but i'd forgotten that we always flew into canada and then drove across the border...
the canadians aren't as psychotic as the americans, so you can enter there with salamis...
and once you're in north america, there's really no issue of driving across the border..

anyway, when i started filling out the customs form on the plane i couldn't believe what a boo boo i'd made....i started laughing....as i knew that it was most definitely verboten....and here i had a suitcase full of the stuff..

so we get to the customs guy and he sees what i've ticked on the form and we get sent over to another desk where there were two women officers working...
we opened the suitcase and they both put on these huge thick long gloves....that went all the way up to their shoulders....think of the gloves you'd want to wear if you were picking up something with the ebola virus...
so they very carefully pick up each salami, as if it's a ticking timebomb and carry it over and dump it into what looked like a huge bomb disposal container...
we couldn't help but laugh...the 4 of us stood there and laughed hysterically....i kept telling them to just take them home....they were really high quality (if you can use that word in conjunction with salami)...

and we laughed and laughed and laughed.....and then we continued on our way out to the connecting desk....

as long as you declare everything, they won't get mad at you if you have something not permitted....

if however, you don't declare it and you have one of the forbidden items, they can throw the book at you....the fine is astronomical...

so best to declare everything...

 

[buzz for boys]

We have ds who is autistic and very very rigid with food and a dd who is coeliac so we always have a suitcase of food items ! I have always declared it and on one occasion we did get sent over for them to check what we had the officials laughed at mountains of cereal and bread and pointed out they do have supermarkets !! It was painless quick and I say defiantly declare and chances are you will not be sent to be searched 1 in 3 trips for us !!

 

[2Tiggies]

we accidentally brought in a big no no one time...a dried salami...
we opened the suitcase and they both put on these huge thick long gloves....that went all the way up to their shoulders....think of the gloves you'd want to wear if you were picking up something with the ebola virus...
so they very carefully pick up each salami, as if it's a ticking timebomb and carry it over and dump it into what looked like a huge bomb disposal container...

I am so glad you found it funny at the time ... so I don't have to feel bad about

 

[disneyholic family]

I am so glad you found it funny at the time ... so I don't have to feel bad about

my description doesn't do it justice...the whole thing was just so silly...
and completely idiotic of me that i forgot that i couldn't bring them into america....

this was a long time ago - i'd completely forgotten about it until just now...

the summer just before 9/11 we started flying through JFK instead of toronto...
but i packed as usual without thinking about the fact that our airport of entry was now the United States....so really stupid of me...

imagine a suitcase practically filled with these big long dried salamis...the kind you see hanging in a delicatessen......the most unhealthy food on the planet....it was very easy to take them to WDW since they don't need refrigeration (they're about 99% preservatives and heaven only knows what else).....i would buy bread in the little disney souvenir store in the lobby and make sandwiches....only once a day, but the kids would eat it.....so we'd ruin our hearts for three weeks out of the year...

i haven't done that for 11 years, since we can't bring them into the US because they're considered meat.....more like chemicals in a plastic sleeve.......

 

[2Tiggies]

imagine a suitcase practically filled with these big long dried salamis..........

No, I can't really

Yeah I know what you mean about unhealthy stuff though. Once in a while I'm sure it won't hurt anyone but processed meat, cheese, etc is are all banned substances in our house. I doubt the US would be able to take exception to anything based on nutritional value however

 

[2Tiggies]

imagine a suitcase practically filled with these big long dried salamis..........

No, I can't really

Yeah I know what you mean about unhealthy stuff though. Once in a while I'm sure it won't hurt anyone but processed meat, cheese, etc is are all banned substances in our house. I doubt the US would be able to take exception to anything based on nutritional value however

It is so easy to forget though, in the midst of all the check in and security procedures. I remember a few years ago we stopped for bagels and cream cheese while waiting for our flight to call for boarding. We ended up not really eating much of them and got some takeaway boxes to put them in and placed them in our hand luggage to eat on the plane - and forgot they were there. Only when we got back home and unpacked did we find them and it occurred to me that the UK may not have been too charmed about the tubs of cream cheese that had crossed the border ..... So easy to do. I usually just take some gluten free snacks like rice cakes, cereal and corn cakes, but I do always declare them on the way through. Since we tend not to bring 'food' as such back with us, it never occured to me when we got back to the UK.

 

[disneyholic family]

No, I can't really

Yeah I know what you mean about unhealthy stuff though. Once in a while I'm sure it won't hurt anyone but processed meat, cheese, etc is are all banned substances in our house. I doubt the US would be able to take exception to anything based on nutritional value however

well i'm a vegatarian, have been for years...i wasn't the one eating those sandwiches...
i don't think the kids or DH have eaten any processed meat since the last time we had them at WDW..
actually, they never ate them at home either - it was just very convenient and a lot cheaper than eating everything out.....after that, we started taking the 2 BR at OKW - nice big kitchen!!

It is so easy to forget though, in the midst of all the check in and security procedures. I remember a few years ago we stopped for bagels and cream cheese while waiting for our flight to call for boarding. We ended up not really eating much of them and got some takeaway boxes to put them in and placed them in our hand luggage to eat on the plane - and forgot they were there. Only when we got back home and unpacked did we find them and it occurred to me that the UK may not have been too charmed about the tubs of cream cheese that had crossed the border ..... So easy to do. I usually just take some gluten free snacks like rice cakes, cereal and corn cakes, but I do always declare them on the way through. Since we tend not to bring 'food' as such back with us, it never occured to me when we got back to the UK.

it would have been fun to see the looks on their faces had they opened the bags.....i'm sure lots of people forget stuff like that in their bags....no doubt the customs officers have lots of amusing tales they could tell!!