Although people may make light of headlines boasting bologna seizures, U.S. Customs and Border Protections (CBP) El Paso Director of Field Operations Hector Mancha says there’s nothing funny about these failed smuggling attempts.
“The importation of unregulated pork products has the potential to introduce foreign animal diseases which can be detrimental to our nation’s agriculture industry,” Mancha says in a release.
CBP agriculture specialists assigned to the Bridge of the Americas and Santa Teresa border crossings seized 230 pounds of prohibited pork bologna on two separate unrelated incidents in recent days.
The first seizure took place at the Bridge of the Americas border crossing on Feb. 25 when a married couple from El Paso, Texas, was stopped. The couple was traveling in separate vehicles. In the first vehicle, a 23-year-old male presented himself for inspection and gave a negative agriculture declaration to the primary CBP officer. The vehicle was referred for a secondary inspection where rolls of prohibited pork bologna were discovered hidden in the vehicle, CBP reports.
“The driver admitted that his friend paid him to import the bologna,” CBP says. “Shortly thereafter, the driver’s wife was referred for a secondary inspection where more bologna was discovered. A total of 110 pounds of bologna were seized from both travelers.”
The second discovery was made at the Santa Teresa border crossing on Feb. 28. A 59-year-old male resident of Santa Fe, N.M., presented himself for inspection via vehicle primary lanes. The driver gave a negative agriculture declaration to the primary CBP officer who referred the vehicle for a secondary inspection. Upon the secondary non-intrusive inspection, officers identified anomalies in the vehicle’s cargo area. Further search resulted in the discovery of 13 rolls of prohibited pork bologna weighing at total of 120 pounds.
Individuals were issued civil penalties for failure to declare commercial quantities of bologna. The bologna was seized and destroyed per USDA regulations.
More from Farm Journal’s PORK:
CBP Ag Specialists Block Bologna at Border Crossing
CBP Casts Wide Net to Assess African Swine Fever Threats to the U.S.
Federal Agents Prevent Smuggled Animal Products from Entering the U.S.
