As of this writing, there weren’t any Facebook Marketplace sellers on the East Coast, but several of the vendors in western states expressed a willingness in their listings to ship their products elsewhere. On Facebook Marketplace, I was able to find rolls of Chimex across Colorado, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah. The meat that is not detected travels far and (somewhat) wide. Months later, in January 2022, officials seized 243 pounds of bologna during two busts, first from a man who had hidden 55 pounds of it under the seats and in the trunk of an SUV, and then from a woman who had hidden nineteen sausages under her back seat, in some luggage, and inside a duvet cover.Īfter the meat is confiscated, it is incinerated, a process that CBP officials told me results in fragrant, hot dog–scented plumes of smoke that waft through the area. One day in September 2021, CBP agents found 320 pounds of bologna that had been concealed in a 2012 Honda Odyssey. The quantities of intercepted bologna are so large that it’s hard to believe that there are any pigs left in the world. In the U.S., the same roll can be sold for anywhere from $80 to $120-a huge markup for a basic lunch meat that Weird Al once wrote a spoof song about. In Mexico, a nine-pound roll of Chimex, the most popular brand of smuggled chubs, costs $10 to $15. But the fines are chump change when weighed against the potential profits. because they can carry maladies such as foot-and-mouth disease and African swine fever. The Department of Agriculture prohibits travelers from bringing most pork products into the U.S. Still, it persists at a steady clip-a busy, consistent form of commerce that raises the question Why bologna? The enterprising meat merchants smuggling these massive, plastic-wrapped sausages-known colloquially as “chubs”-face fines of $1,000 or more if caught. Stephen Colbert did a segment on it in 2012, and in the past decade it’s been covered by the Wall Street Journal and Time, among other outlets. The illicit Mexican bologna trade is not a new phenomenon in the United States. Customs and Border Protection officer drilled into a car’s bumper and the bit came out pink, covered in the slimy residue of lunch meat. Rolls are stuffed into the backs of SUVs, sewn into car seats, shoved into spare tires, or hidden in suitcases beneath heaps of shirts and socks. Customs and Border Protection, the inspection process at the ports of entry associated with this mission results in impressive numbers of enforcement actions in all categories.The tons of contraband lunch meat seized at the U.S.-Mexico border tell us something about the market value of nostalgia. While anti-terrorism is the primary mission of U.S. CBP officers are always at ports of entry and assume the responsibility of protecting America from all threats. These agencies require that unsafe items are not allowed to enter the United States. Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A properly declared prohibited item can be abandoned at the port without consequence," said CBP Columbus Port Director Tony Hall.ĬBP has been entrusted with enforcing hundreds of laws for 40 other government agencies, such as the U.S. "It is important that travelers understand they should declare all items they are transporting from abroad to avoid fines and penalties. The bologna was seized and destroyed and the driver was assessed a $500 civil penalty. The weight of the contraband meat was 194 pounds. Additional rolls were found hidden inside luggage. CBP officers performing an inspection spotted multiple red rolls in the trunk/hatchback area of the vehicle. when a 2019 Nissan Rogue being driven by a 49-year-old legal permanent resident from Albuquerque entered the port from Mexico. Bologna is a prohibited product because it is made from pork and has the potential for introducing foreign animal diseases to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations Agriculture Specialists working at the Columbus port of entry seized 22 rolls of Mexican bologna February 7.
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