Drop That Cheese

Scotti of Stumptown Mom sent me this story recently about a cheese not being allowed through airport security. The news came as a surprise to me.

The TSA website implies that only creamy cheeses are banned, but according to the article, an agent from TSA told the author:

I can't get into a lot of detail because it's what's called SSI," Baird said. "It's top secret security type information but ... Cheese looks on an X-ray like other explosive type material.

Baird may not want to get into too much detail, but this article from CNN explains a bit more: screeners have been finding unusual objects, designed to mimic bombs in people's luggage, and many of them involved blocks of cheese

So no more cheese... at least not in large quantities. What do you like to bring with you to eat on the plane?

Related Links:
Readers Favorite Airplane Snacks
TSA Confiscates Baby Food and Formula

5 comments | Posted on August 25, 2009 | Save to del.icio.us

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  1. Elizabeth Sanchez on August 25, 2009 at 6:29 a.m.

    Oh no! This is awful. As weird as it may seem, every time we go to Mexico, we bring back at least three blocks of cheese. People make it for us and for family and friends here in the U.S. and we bring it over. Yikes! There go the good enchiladas ;-)

  2. Debbie on August 25, 2009 at 7:40 a.m.

    We often bring cheese back from Europe too... I'm holding out hope that the rules would be different in a different country

  3. Caroline on August 25, 2009 at 8:34 a.m.

    We take peanut butter sandwiches, bagels with cream cheese or peanut butter on them, rice cakes or corn cakes with cream cheese, dried fruit, healthy breakfast bars. The cream cheese is fine not refrigerated for about 24 hours unless it is hot. Dumdum lollipops which are great for the kids to suck on when taking off or landing for their ears and more fun then a piece of sucking candy. I also take some small candy to hand out now and then or when they need a distraction from what they are doing. Great for when they are standing in a long immigration or customs line or when they are tired and we need them to walk through an airport after a long flight. It is amazing what a few M&Ms or other small candy can do to distract them or make standing in line a lot more enjoyable for all us after a longhaul flight.

    Caroline

  4. RennyBA's Terella on August 26, 2009 at 6:34 a.m.

    Doesn't sounds good and it's sad.

    I'm just back from a blog gathering in Provence, France and while touring around we had a lot of tasty cheese.
    Some we brought back to Norway too, but we had our own car and no control at the border :-)

  5. Meg Keough on August 26, 2009 at 11:03 a.m.

    Add blocks of chocolate and peanut butter. Bring home a jar of peanut butter and your bag will get searched. I can attest from a recent trip to California that almond butter triggers manual search and test as well. (I used to work one of the companies that makes bomb detectors at airports.)