By Steve Neavling
CBP has its eyes out for more than just drugs.
This month, the agency seized 243 pounds of prohibited pork bologna at the Texas border in El Paso on two separate occasions.
The contraband bologna was “seized and destroyed,” CBP said in a news release.
The lunch meat is banned from entering the U.S. because of its potential to spread foreign animal diseases into the country, CBP said.
“Pork products have the potential to introduce foreign animal diseases that can have devastating effects to the U.S. economy and to our agriculture industry,” CBP Director Field Operations Hector A. Mancha said. “We ask travelers to declare any items acquired abroad so we can prevent the introduction of potentially harmful products.”
In the first incident, a 40-year-old Albuquerque resident was busted trying to enter the U.S. with the pork at the Paso Del Norte crossing in El Paso on Jan. 13. Agriculture specialists discovered 55 pounds of bologna hidden in several locations, including under bags of chips.
“The driver informed CBP Agriculture Specialists that he resells the bologna in the U.S. for almost double the price he pays for them in Mexico,” the news release said.
In the second case on Jan. 21, a 40-year-old resident of Colorado tried to enter the Yselta border crossing in El Paso without declaring meat products. During an inspection of the vehicle, agriculture specialists found 19 rolls of bologna weighing 188 pounds.
Both suspects were fined $1,000 for failing to declare commercial quantities of bologna.
