U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists at Washington Dulles International Airport recently discovered pork sausage links concealed in an El Salvadoran woman’s baby formula cans.
Swine meat from El Salvador is not allowed to enter the United States because of the presence of swine vesicular disease (SVD), a highly contagious viral disease of pigs.
A CBP agriculture canine alerted officers to the woman’s luggage shortly after she arrived at the airport. An x-ray examination detected anomalies in two cans of baby formula. The officers opened the containers and found approximately 4.5 combined pounds of pork sausage.
“Passengers try various ways to conceal food products that they know to be inadmissible to the United States, such as in this pork concealment attempt, but Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists and their canine partners are highly trained in detection techniques,” Casey Durst, CBP’s director of the Baltimore Field Office, said. “CBP agriculture specialists and their canine partners continue their vigilance through robust and stringent inspections of arriving passengers and their baggage to search for prohibited products that pose a significant risk to our nation’s agriculture and to our economy.”
SVD, which is caused by an enterovirus, causes pigs to develop lesions on the feet, snout, and mouth. The disease is costly to eradicate. It negatively impacts economies due to export restrictions of pigs and pork products from nations not considered free of SVD. SVD is not found in North America.
After incinerating the pork products, CBP released the woman to continue her visit.