The Truth About Food Smuggling

We’ve all done it: gotten hooked on a particular delicacy while traveling, and tried to sneak a morsel or two home in our luggage. For me, it was energy drinks from Malaysia, mango candies from India, and once, an entire carry-on backpack full of bottled ales, mulled wine, Jaffa cakes and mince pies from England, just before the holidays. But are the edible souvenirs that most travelers stash away really the contraband that sniffer dogs in airports are after? The Globe and Mail’s Judy Stoffman says no.

While border guards are genuinely concerned about many meat and egg products, Stoffman writes, most amateur food smugglers, at least in Canada, are being “about as daring as a teenager smoking an oregano ‘joint.’” The average tourist’s collection of jams, spices and oils is apparently perfectly kosher. Some of the genuine contraband uncovered, though, is far from average—raw camel meat, anyone?

Photo by exfordy via Flickr (Creative Commons)

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