Found a loophole for bringing my Canadian bacon through US customs without hassle

I'm dual US-Canada and drive across the border near Buffalo pretty often to visit family. The problem was always my dad sending me home with a cooler full of real Canadian bacon and cheese curds. Customs would give me the third degree every time about dairy and meat products. After getting my stuff confiscated twice I tried something different. I started emailing the border crossing office ahead of time and asking for their specific rules in writing. Turns out if you have a signed email from a CBP officer saying your items are fine, they just wave you through. Been doing it 6 months now with zero issues. The trick is to ask about quantities under 20 pounds which falls under personal use exemptions. Any other dual citizens found weird little loopholes for moving stuff across their borders?

3 comments

3 Comments

drew_hart412d ago

Yeah I feel you on this, that's a smart move getting it in writing. I got flagged once bringing a pack of genuine Quebec cheese curds through, the officer was super suspicious until I showed him the receipt from a little shop in Montreal. @finleyl39 is right about the bacon thing too, I always just call it peameal bacon to avoid confusion, seems to work better. The email trick is genius though, I might try it next time I bring back some smoked fish from Lake Erie, those guys can be real sticklers about anything that smells like food.

finleyl3912d ago

Canadian bacon is actually just back bacon or peameal bacon, not the same as what Americans call Canadian bacon. You're probably fine calling it that with customs though since they deal with weird terminology all the time.

max_brown12d ago

3 times out of 5 calling it Canadian bacon actually makes customs go faster since they've heard it before.