Crossing border with food

[mab2012]

Just sharing my experience from last March 2018
I had one piece of watermelon,1 banana, and an apple in my purse to eat for breakfast--early morning flight. I told them and I was not fine.
I was escorted by US customs into a briefing/holding area and told no fruit can go into the USA from Canada (even if I was going to eat it at the airport on Canadian soil).. This man (Customs agent) was rude,discourteous and downright ignorant to me.
The pregnant mom beside me who had packed baggies of clean fresh veggies(Vegan) was also spoken to in the same manner.
This agent told me to NOT go by what is posted on TSA https://www.catsa-acsta.gc.ca/en web page as it has nothing to do with US Customs.
So in my opinion I would not take any fruit or veggies into the USA.

Hugs Mel

Sorry you had such a crappy experience. I don't know if that's normal now, or if you just got unlucky. We once tried to bring a Florida orange into the US pre-clearance area at Ottawa airport. We'd decided to go to the airport early in hope of getting out ahead of a nasty winter storm, and anticipated a lengthy wait. It was completely our intention to eat the orange long before leaving Ottawa, and this was not that many years after US pre-clearance was opened in Ottawa, so I guess we weren't really thinking of it as "entering the US" before we'd even left the airport. Anyway, we declared it, the agent took it, and that was the end of it. No lectures and no escort to a separate area, just "sorry, I have to take this" (or something to that effect).

We've also taken small amounts of prepared fruit (washed and generally pre-cut) in at ground crossings on multiple occasions. We always declare it, and usually just show them what we have, since it's typically close at hand, not packed away. We've never had a problem, but then we now know better than to try to take in citrus fruit!

This thread also reminds me of a time when we were coming back to Canada (so this was Canadian customs, not US), and the agent asked if we had any fruit or vegetables. I started to say no, and then changed it to "wait, yes, I have half a Subway sandwich that I didn't finish eating", and the agent literally laughed at me and sent us on our way.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be one single answer for "what's okay" or even what kind of response you'll get if declaring something that's not allowed. Personally, I wouldn't try to take something that I know is going to cause a problem (whole citrus in particular), but otherwise I'm comfortable declaring what I have and letting the customs officer tell me if it's okay on that day or not.

 

[isabellea]

Technically, you're not even allowed to cross a state border with them. The reason being the FL citrus has a disease the California trees don't carry yet.

 

[Average Joes]

Technically, you're not even allowed to cross a state border with them. The reason being the FL citrus has a disease the California trees don't carry yet.

My friend lost his Nexus trying to bring an orange across. He was temporarily living with relatives in between house sales. They packed a lunch for him and he did not check it.

We do not bother bringing food across. My wife did it for about a year when she worked in Michigan about 10 years ago. She would get pulled in for food inspections from time to time. She is pretty knowledgeable on the subject but we just don't see it worth the potential delay when we have a flight to catch. The less reason we give to get pulled in the better especially over the last couple years. We cross monthly.

 

[kiford]

My friend lost his Nexus trying to bring an orange across. He was temporarily living with relatives in between house sales. They packed a lunch for him and he did not check it.

They can, in fact, take your Nexus card away if you cross the border with so much as a chocolate bar (wrapped in original retail packaging and unopened) if you don't declare it. We always declare "food" on the form even when we have just have chocolate or coffee in sealed vacuum packages in our suitcase when using our Nexus cards. They usually just wave you off after asking what you have but if you don't declare it and they find it, it is considered grounds for loss of status.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I have often take sandwiches to the airport with us to eat on the flight (or while waiting for the flight). I would report this on the Customs form we filled out at the airport. Every single time the Customs officer asked and basically rolled his eyes.
So the last time I did not bother writing it down. When we got to Customs he asked me directly about food and I could tell he knew we had sandwiches that were not reported and got lectured about not reporting them.

As for the PP's concern about refrigeration - I've taken sandwiches with deli meat almost every school/work day for the last 40 years and kept it in my locker/lunch bag/desk and have yet to get food poison. LOL. My kids have done the same.

 

[AngelDisney]

I used Nexus card and the questions have changed lately. It asked whether I was bringing any food when I returned from China in May. I checked yes on the machine and got to see the officer. I told her I had candies made from fruits. She typed on the computer, crossed a section on my receipt and wrote a number on top. I am not sure why they ask such a general question, but I am not going to risk my Nexus and definitely say yes to the question. They can roll their eyes to their heart’s content or they can change their questions.

 

[Average Joes]

As for the PP's concern about refrigeration - I've taken sandwiches with deli meat almost every school/work day for the last 40 years and kept it in my locker/lunch bag/desk and have yet to get food poison. LOL. My kids have done the same.

Well yeah eating cooked/smoked deli meat that has been out for several hours is nothing compared to the meat we evolved to consume.

 

[starvenger]

There's many things I did as a kid that I wouldn't do now. For instance there was the time that I

<redacted>

and that other time I

<censored>

and now that I'm older, wiser and fatter I'm probably not doing those things again.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

We have Nexus and cross at Nexus lanes so we assumed they have cameras that can see thru our trunk!

They do. While you are driving up, there are agents inspecting the weight of your vehicle, making sure the panels don't have contraband in them, scanning for weapons, etc. When you get to the window and hand over your passports, they are asking you so they can verify what you told them vs. what they already know. If there's a difference, they get cranky. Like when people in their RVs driving to Alaska forget about all their guns in the back LOL

and those are my secrets from the border crossing...

 

[Belle2002]

Unless you are taking cheese or PB&j sandwiches across the border I wouldn’t do it. You can’t take fresh veggies or meat across the border in either direction but dairy is totally fine. I bring cheese back from everywhere I go and ALWAYS declare. I watch a lot of the show Border Security and there are a lot of things you can’t take across the border and the fines aren’t worth it.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Well yeah eating cooked/smoked deli meat that has been out for several hours is nothing compared to the meat we evolved to consume.

There's many things I did as a kid that I wouldn't do now. For instance there was the time that I

<redacted>

and that other time I

<censored>

and now that I'm older, wiser and fatter I'm probably not doing those things again.

I'm not sure what either of these comments are supposed to mean.

 

[starvenger]

The former is basically a comment about today's commercial meat. That is can sit out for a while and we can still eat it is both remarkable and disgusting.

My comment was a joking tangent off that and your comment about the sandwiches. The gist is that we used to do things (like eating tepid deli meat sandwiches at school lunch) but we wouldn't do that anymore, because we're starting to realize that what we did 20-30 years ago was... kinda dumb.

 

[CdnCarrie]

The former is basically a comment about today's commercial meat. That is can sit out for a while and we can still eat it is both remarkable and disgusting.

My comment was a joking tangent off that and your comment about the sandwiches. The gist is that we used to do things (like eating tepid deli meat sandwiches at school lunch) but we wouldn't do that anymore, because we're starting to realize that what we did 20-30 years ago was... kinda dumb.

Ok then thanks. You're been so helpful.