What is New York Airport doing with the seized prohibited items and products

Approximately 43 international travelers fly into New York's John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK Airport) every day. In terms of passenger traffic, this airport is the largest entry point to the United States. About 000 pieces of luggage pass through only 4 terminals per hour. These bags and suitcases contain a huge number of things, items and products that cannot be imported into the United States, including 1000 kilograms of food daily. What happens to the confiscated goods told the publication Business Insider.

How does JFK airport find and destroy items that are not allowed to enter the United States?

If you flew to New York airport in the 90s, then you know very well that it was much easier to bring anything to the States. But after the tragedy of September 11, 2001, the question arose: how to protect the country from dangerous people, substances and products.

So the US Customs and Border Control Service (CBP) was created in the form in which it is known today.

Typically, two types of CBP staff can be seen at the airport: officers and agricultural specialists.

Their job is to detect, confiscate, and destroy millions of prohibited items and products per year that are not allowed to be imported into the United States. This is a difficult and big job, which sometimes requires the participation of a four-legged partner.

“This is Spike, an 8 year old Belgian Malinois. The officer trained Spike from the first days of the puppy's life. The dog is specially trained to find drugs. Over the course of their combined career, the Shepherd has discovered over 400 different illegal substances that have been seized, ”says Steve Robinson, pointing to the dog.

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CBP employees like Steve identify potentially dangerous people trying to infiltrate the United States, and also find drugs and weapons. And because the stakes are so high, dogs like Spike are trained in a special way: this is called a "passive response." When a dog has sniffed drugs, it does not scratch, growl, bark, or draw attention to itself. She just sits down. And if the animal is not mistaken, he is given a reward.

“His reward is a toy, he loves to play,” says Steve, tossing the sheepdog her favorite thing. “Well, just recently, he and I found and seized 16 packets of ecstasy.”

Seized drugs are confiscated and burned. The place where this happens is kept in the strictest confidence for reasons of national security.

Everyone knows very well that you can’t bring drugs to the USA. But more often than not prohibited substances are seized at JFK.

The most common "forbidden" thing is food. When the average traveler arrives in the United States, they must declare any food they bring in, or risk paying a $ 1000 fine for the first violation of this requirement.

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The food is not confiscated because the security officers want to eat your Spanish ham or Caribbean mangoes. This is because their job is to protect US agriculture from any foreign pests or diseases that may affect livestock or crops in the US. Therefore, agricultural experts such as Ginger Perron step in.

“Everything is destroyed to protect against possible risks,” says the expert. - We protect the country's agricultural interests. We protect ourselves from bioterrorism, in which case someone can bring a dangerous product on purpose to wreak havoc in the States. ”

Previously, such chaos was created by insects brought in luggage from other countries. Florida orange and grapefruit producers lost $ 2,9 million between 2007 and 2014 due to the imported Asian citrus psyllid. And the Asian barbel that appeared in the USA in the 90s destroyed a lot of deciduous trees.

The irradiation of foreign insects during the period from 1997 to 2010 years cost the United States 373 million dollars.

“In the US, we go to the grocery store - and there is always food. We do not need to search for it or check whether the food is contaminated with some kind of disease. The food always looks great and that spoiled us a little. We really don't fully understand how important it is to protect all of this, ”says agricultural specialist James Armstrong.

Therefore, it is extremely important to find, confiscate and destroy every orange imported into the country.

But with 34 million foreign passengers flying into the country every year, it might seem impossible to check every bag. For humans, yes. But, as in the case of drug searches, the officers have assistants. They are called the Beagle Brigade.

Four-Legged Officer - Biscuit, like Spike, is trained to "passive response". But this dog was taught to recognize food.

“They learn by starting with five key smells,” says agricultural specialist Sal DiSpinha. “Over time, their skills expand, and these dogs retire, often knowing about 150 smells.”

And Biscuit is doing great. Beagle-Brigade provides 90% of correct "answers".

“It's incredible to see your dog sit down in a passive response because of three grapes in a suitcase with hard walls,” the expert admits.

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Scientists say that dog noses are 1000 times more sensitive than human noses. And in the service at JFK, animals prove it every day.

As soon as Biscuit sniffs the product, the passenger's bags go to the officers for inspection. They look at them through an X-ray scanner and check the luggage. The officer opens the suitcases and inspects each one by hand. If he finds something forbidden, he withdraws it and sends it for temporary storage. Very often, according to the specialist, people bring plants and seedlings that are going to be planted in the USA.

Dispose of contraband food in two ways: a chopper and an incinerator. Officer Ginger places food in separate containers and makes notes about where the prohibited food will go.

In a separate room, food finds its final resting place. The chopper is used for fruits, vegetables and similar plant products. The car is called "Muffin Monster". But before Ginger puts food in him, she cuts, squeezes, and examines the fruit or vegetable. She looks for signs of disease, insect entry points or larvae exit. If she finds even a tiny bug, she neutralizes the risk of infection and sends the insect to the USDA for further investigation.

Let's go back to Muffin Monster. Every day, he grinds 54-55 kilograms of food - all of it brought by international passengers. Avocados, mangoes, citrus fruits are among the most common fruits that will go to the chopper.

“I love to eat, I'm a big food fan, just like any other person. But I understand how important it is to seize, confiscate and destroy these products in order to avoid the risk of contamination. ”

Therefore, the next time you decide to put an orange in your luggage, declare it and allow specialists such as Ginger to decide whether you can import it.

And leave the Spanish jamon in Spain - Biscuit will find it anyway.