The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport seized a shipment of prohibited and restricted chicken lollipop pet treats disguised as men’s sweaters.
The shipment, discovered on April 14, did not contain sweaters as indicated but instead was filled with 93 chicken-flavored lollipop pet treats with rawhide stems shipped from Hong Kong en route to Highlands, Texas. These items are prohibited due to animal disease concerns, CBP reported in a release.
“Consumers are unaware that some international goods and products are prohibited or restricted because of the potential agriculture or biological risks associated with that product,” said Dallas CBP Port Director Tim Lemaux in the release. “When we encounter suspicious shipments, we examine them and then act accordingly. In this case, we seized the shipment to protect our nation’s agriculture industry.”
CBP agriculture specialists are diligently working to keep foreign animal diseases such as Highly pathogenic avian influenza 2, Newcastle disease, Foot and mouth disease, Classical swine fever and African swine fever out of the U.S. All of the chicken lollipops were destroyed by steam sterilization.
The agency said visitors to the U.S. are encouraged to declare all agriculture items they are bringing into the U.S. A traveler who declares an item that is prohibited or restricted may abandon the item at the port; however CBP notes that undeclared items that are prohibited or restricted can result in a civil fine. More information about bringing food to the U.S. is available here. On a typical day in fiscal year 2020, CBP intercepted 3,091 materials for quarantine including plant, meat, animal byproduct and soil.
For more information on biosecurity measures to keep the U.S. livestock herd safe, visit https://www.porkbusiness.com/topics/biosecurity.
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