
Why Can't I Take an Orange Through Customs? - gordon_freeman
http://priceonomics.com/why-cant-i-take-an-orange-through-customs/
======
bane
I once had a fun experience. I was return to the U.S. after a stay in South
Korea. My hosts gave me a box of grapes as a going away gift, I figured I'd
eat them on the plane.

Short story, I didn't. And I didn't throw them away. Customs asked me if I had
any fruits, I told them yes I had grapes. They looked at each other and then
looked at me.

"Sir, we're going to have to see these grapes"

"okay, if I'm not allowed to bring them in I can just toss 'em"

 _quiet stare down while the other customs officer inspected my grapes_

"sir, where did you get these grapes?"

"Korea"

they turned to look at each other again, apparently I was bringing in the
equivalent of a WMD

about 5 minutes later the officer doing the inspection finally looked at the
label "product of California, U.S.A."

laughter ensued, I was given my grapes and allowed on through

~~~
razster
Seems like someone could take advantage of this by making fake product labels.

------
Patrick_Devine
OK, that explains produce. Why the War on Kinder Surprise?
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinder_Surprise](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinder_Surprise)

~~~
davidw
My Italian friends think it's a bit odd that you can't buy one of those in the
US, because they're dangerous for children, but you can let 9 year olds loose
with fully automatic weapons, and of course buy all kinds of guns. I can't do
much more than shrug: every place has its contradictions.

Additionally: I personally hate the damn things. My kids love to get them
because of the stupid surprise. Sometimes my daughter just ignores the
chocolate completely. It's a bit of marketing akin to the McDonalds Happy Meal
with the cheap plastic toy. A far greater injustice in the world is not being
able to import prosciuttos and similar cured meats.

~~~
gambiting
There are things like this absolutely everywhere. My favourite is that where I
come from you can't fill your own LPG gas tank in the car, it has to be done
by a "qualified" person(because it's too dangerous to do it yourself!), which
means you have to ask someone at the station to do it for you, but when
filling any other fuel we have those little locks on the pistol which let you
put it in and leave it until the tank is full.

In the UK on the other hand it is the exact opposite. You can fill your own
LPG tank no problem, but I have not seen any pistols with the locks on them,
because "it would be dangerous, what if you leave it in and forget about
it??". It's just a matter of interpretation, a thing that is seen as dangerous
in one country is completely fine in another.

~~~
bollix
See also:

    
    
      UK: It's illegal to sell washed eggs
    
      US: It's illegal to sell unwashed Eggs
    

Spoiler: In the UK, we keep eggs outside the fridge, and with the natural
protection on the eggs (Removed when washed), they tend to keep for weeks. In
the US, they tend to keep eggs in the fridge. Also a lot to do with how the
chickens are kept. If you're not allowed to wash eggs (UK), it's more likely
the chickens will be kept in sanitary, good conditions.

OTOH, It's cheaper for the producer to keep chickens in worse conditions, wash
the eggs removing the protection and make consumers keep eggs in the fridge!

~~~
desdiv
It has almost nothing to do with the breeding conditions. Factory farming
techniques are pretty much identical across the globe. The reason is
salmonella.

USDA mandates egg washing to combat salmonella. But the washing process also
destroys the egg's outer most protective layer, the cuticle. Thus American
eggs must be refrigerated, unlike almost everywhere else in the world.

In the UK, all chickens are already vaccinated against salmonella so their
eggs don't need to be washed, nor refrigerated. This has a couple of benefits:

1\. The cuticle remains intact, thus the egg is naturally protected against
contamination during transport and storage.

2\. Refrigerated eggs undergo temperature swings during transport, causing
moistures to collect, which could lead to harmful bacterial growth.

3\. A botched washing job leads to excess moisture and thus bacteria growth,
and is worst than no washing job at all.

That's why it's actually illegal for the farm to wash the eggs in the UK.

~~~
bollix
That's true, and I'd forgotten the point about salmonella.

I'm sure a lot of it does have to do with conditions though. If you have to
wash the eggs anyway, you can keep them in factory conditions, and wash off
all the shit. If you're not allowed to wash the eggs, then you tend to be a
bit more careful, and keep them in better conditions.

------
gojomo
Similar to the medfly 'Breeders' of this article, there's also informed
speculation that covert actors are intentionally bringing Australian insects
to California to destroy Eucalyptus trees. See:

[http://www.npr.org/2012/07/22/157189794/invasive-pests-or-
ti...](http://www.npr.org/2012/07/22/157189794/invasive-pests-or-tiny-
biological-terrorists)

~~~
Freeboots
I wonder if that counts as biological warfare?

I mean, theoretically you could really hurt an entire industry. A large Fruit
Fly outbreak in certain countries could have really affect gdp

~~~
trhway
>I wonder if that counts as biological warfare?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_against_the_potato_beetle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_against_the_potato_beetle)

i remember how we, schoolchildren, collected these beetles which "American
imperialists send to destroy our potato crops". That could have easily been
photo of me only i was in USSR, not in Eastern Germany
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_against_the_potato_beetle#G...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_against_the_potato_beetle#German_Democratic_Republic)
:)

~~~
paganel
Good memories! I did take part in that "war", only that for me it happened
after the Wall had already fallen (somewhere in the mid-'90s) but the damn
beetles were still doing their thing. It was me, my brother and our grand-
mother collecting those damn insects all-day long somewhere in a Carpathian
village.

~~~
trhway
in that case, being from Eastern-European country, you may find this
entertaining (i suppose your former country has done the right thing - i.e.
join the NATO :) given the way (pro-)Russian rebels appeared

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_potato_beetle#2014_pro...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_potato_beetle#2014_pro-
Russian_conflict_in_Ukraine)

and

([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbon_of_Saint_George](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbon_of_Saint_George))

------
WildUtah
A customs dog sniffed me out and his handler searched my bag in 2010. I had
some chocolates infused with orange oil in my pack.

She was satisfied but apparently you can't bring oranges into Mexico from the
USA or vice versa.

Since then I always pack breakfast for early morning flights across the
border, but I'm careful to eat it before landing or leave it for the aeromozas
to clean up.

~~~
vsloo
A customs dog once sniffed out my gf's orange zest scented shampoo. Got
cornered by some officers and had to empty my suitcase. Security isn't always
this strict though so it's pretty inconsistent at best.

------
deerpig
The last time I visited the States I forgot that I had a half eaten tuna
sandwhch that I'd bought in the departure lounge in Bangkok. I was detained
for an hour and threatened with fines and jail time! An sweet elderly woman
from Hong Kong was sitting next to me because she had forgotten that she had
the equivilant of three dollars in loose change in the bottom of her purse
which she hadn't declared. She couldn't speak any english and customs didn't
even try to find a translator, they kept shouting at her at high speed with
his hand on the baton on his belt as if he was going to pull it out and strike
her. She was in tears. I tried to translate the best I could in my broken
Cantonese in between trying to figure out what they had against tuna
sandwiches. It was almost surrealistic. Customs in Mainland China, who are not
the most enduring bunch of people on their best day were still orders of
magnitude more polite and civil than what I saw that day.

Last night I was in a bar in Phnom Penh and an American yelled at me because I
didn't agree instantly that America was the greatest country on earth. I have
nothing against America, I grew up there, and there are a lot of very decent
kind people there. But I don't live there, and after a long string of
incidents like the one with customs I can't honestly say that America is the
greatest country on earth. There are places which are better and places that
are much much worse. I've lived in both.

My guess is that the guy yelling at me had something against tuna sandwiches
as well....

~~~
jlaurend
You're allowed to take up to $10,000 into the US without declaring it, I
believe. I'm guessing they sent her to the room because they were afraid she
was trying to illegally immigrate and just complaining about the money to try
and rattle her. Some of the horror stories about US Customs are so ridiculous.

When I came back from China last year through Toronto, they sent me to the
room because they thought I was bringing food (even though I didn't declare
any nor did I have any). Luckily the guy in the room there was more reasonable
and let me go quickly without a hassle. Going through customs as an American
is terrifying enough...can't imagine being a non-American.

There's a lot of good and bad about America. Unfortunately customs is on the
bad sad often times...which happens to be the first impression a lot of people
get of the country.

------
snake_plissken
About 5 years ago In my early 20s I tried to bring some tulip bulbs back from
the Netherlands. I bought them after the main season, in November when they no
longer had the official inspection stamps on the packages. I declared one
package of them and tried to bullshit the CPB lady about how the stamp fell
off and how they were for my mom for her birthday. After some time I
acquiesced and when she asked if I had any other bulbs, I took them out for
her. I take comfort in knowing I have a record, somewhere deep in the bowls of
Fort Meade or Bluffdale, of attempted agricultural products smuggling.

Looking back on the tulips thing, I probably wouldn't try to do it again, not
because I could get in trouble, but because I now know there is a slim chance
I could introduce some random organism into a new ecosystem where it could
wreak havoc. Yet at the same time, I can't tell if the whole no agricultural
products rules for individuals crossing borders is bullshit or not. Almost all
of the major invasive species in the US (snakefish, ashwood beetle, fire ants)
were introduced via container ships.

------
phantom784
"TSA officer and her barking dog"

The TSA is the agency that checks you for weapons before you enter the
airport. Customs & Immigration would care about the oranges, so the woman
probably worked for them.

"If you cross any state line, a human asks you if you’re carrying any fruits
and vegetables."

I've only ever heard of this happening when entering California.

~~~
craigwblake
_I 've only ever heard of this happening when entering California._

I've driven through 36 states and only seen this in California as well, and
even then it's only on some highways entering California.

~~~
drdeadringer
> and even then it's only on some highways entering California

When I entered California several times from the northern border with Oregon,
it was like every other state-crossing to me -- oh, a state line, simply keep
driving.

When I heard about being stopped at the California border about a month ago on
another social website, I was confused until informed that these border checks
were more so along the edges with Nevada.

~~~
fennecfoxen
Interstate 80 has one because the big interstate tractor-trailers run along
Interstate 80. The other, smaller highways around South Lake Tahoe and the
like don't.

------
leoc
Try taking a set of bagpipes into the US.

~~~
readerrrr
So if you plan to take your laptop it is better to upload the disk image and
buy a new one in the states? I'm assuming the TSA can force a foreigner to
unlock and then copy the disk.

Wow this is sick:

[http://www.humblelibertarian.com/2011/06/10-of-tsas-worst-
ac...](http://www.humblelibertarian.com/2011/06/10-of-tsas-worst-actions.html)

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2014/07/07/th...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2014/07/07/the-
tsas-worst-screening-change-yet-no-phones-without-charge/)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba030UmbkCo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba030UmbkCo)

[http://www.humblelibertarian.com/2011/05/nottheonion-tsa-
sea...](http://www.humblelibertarian.com/2011/05/nottheonion-tsa-searches-
baby.html)

~~~
tkmcc
US customs officers can, upon attempted border entry, search and seize any
baggage of any US or foreign citizen without a warrant or probable cause.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_search_exception](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_search_exception)

~~~
readerrrr
The last paragraph is especially creepy. You can be treated as an animal,
whenever they please.

------
samspot
We went to Mexico for a day trip and brought an apple in our cooler. Our
friends fed us so we never opened the cooler. We forgot at customs and said we
had nothing to declare. Customs decided to search our cooler and found the
apple. We explained that we had brought it with us but forgotten about it.
When he said it was contaminated from being in Mexico, I thought he was
telling a joke, but he was dead serious. Thankfully he just confiscated it and
let us on our way.

------
flashman
Bill Bailey on Australian Customs:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s5AF4ahrOk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s5AF4ahrOk)

~~~
grecy
Australia has extremely strict customs because the flora and fauna is unique
and has been isolated from the rest of the world for millions of years.

We also don't have things like Rabies, and we'd like to keep it that way.

~~~
notjosh
FYI: Australia has "Australian bat lyssavirus" which is indeed a thing very
much like rabies:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_bat_lyssavirus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_bat_lyssavirus).
It surprised me when I learned about its existence :)

------
gadders
I had Fortnum and Masons Pork Pie taken from me by US Customs at Seattle
Airpot :-(

~~~
samwillis
I think thats the saddest things I have read today!

~~~
gadders
It was a present for a Brit friend working at Amazon.

------
MrDosu
Try to smuggle a pack of coffee through EU customs. If you think the
agricultural ministry can be bad, try messing with the tax people.

~~~
imjk
Eh, I just returned from Jamaica with a bag of coffee and declared it on my
customs form. The agent just waived me through.

