Raw deal: Officials seize stash of meat found in luggage at Toronto airport

TORONTO – The Canadian Border Services Agency says 27 kilograms of undeclared raw meat have been seized at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.

The agency says they were first alerted to the cache when a detector dog smelled something funny at a baggage carousel last Tuesday.

When the luggage was brought into a secondary inspection area, border officers found a selection of products including partly frozen beef cuts, whole goose and smaller avian birds.

A traveller from Egypt was counselled about the requirement to declare all food, plant, animals and related products.

The meat was seized and destroyed.

The border agency says many travellers are unaware that undeclared meat, animal hides, live birds, plants and fruit may damage Canada’s food supply, economy, environment and pose a risk to human health.