Protocols in airports are very strict, even for tamales. A man who was traveling from Mexico to Los Angeles had 450 tamales seized in Los Angeles International Airport.
Although there was nothing illegal inside the tamales, their owner declared he was carrying food in his luggage but he never clarified he was carrying a foreign pork meat product.
"Foreign meat products can carry serious animal diseases from countries affected by outbreaks of Avian Influenza, Mad Cow and Swine Fever," said Anne Maricich, CBP Acting Director of Field Operations in L.A.
The man was carrying the tamales in plastic bags. The cost: he had to pay a fine of $1,000 and the impotence of seeing his tamales being destroyed.
Last year, at least 1,623,294 products of foreign meat and plants were intercepted in the U.S.
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