With the price of chicken eggs soaring, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is reminding travelers that eggs can't be brought into the country from Mexico.
In a tweet sent Wednesday, Jennifer De La O, Director of Field Operations at CBPS's San Diego office, said agents at ports of entry in San Diego are seeing more people attempting to cross into the U.S. with raw eggs, which along with raw poultry, are prohibited.
Failure to declare eggs or other raw poultry items at the border can leave you susceptible to fines of up to $10,000 according to De La O.
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Seizures of raw eggs along the U.S.-Mexico border in the last three months of 2022 were up 108% compared to the same three months in 2021, CBP Supervisory Agriculture Specialist Charles Payne told an NBC affiliate in El Paso, Texas.
Specialist Payne said penalties can start at $300, and they can increase depending on whether or not the eggs are being brought over for personal or commercial use.
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“We do get a lot of people bringing over eggs and poultry products because they are cheaper in Mexico," Payne said. "Ever since the advent of the Highly-Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) last year, we saw a real drop in production, partially because of the depopulation of the birds."
Ofelia Meza, a shopper at Pancho Villa's Market in North Park, told NBC 7 she's finding ways to get around the soaring eggs prices, including eating less eggs and finding egg substitutes in her recipes.
“I think the egg prices are getting too expensive. You have to shop around different stores to get a good deal. One time I went to the 99-Cent Store and they were so expensive," Meza said.
One tactic she said she won't use is attempting to get capitalize on a deal south of the border.
"Me? I wouldn’t do it. I don’t want to get fined," she said.
Payne used egg seizures as an example of the importance of declaring items you're attempting to bring into the country. Declaring items in your possession that you don't know are prohibited can save you from costly penalties, according to Payne.
“Please declare what you have when you come over. We don’t want to issue the penalties, but sometimes we have to," he said.
Personal meals of cooked eggs, chicken or turkey are allowed, Payne said.
San Diego couldn't dodge the surging price of eggs seen across the country, mostly attributed to HPAI.
California has some of the highest prices in the nation for a carton of a dozen eggs, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA's “Daily California Eggs” update reports egg prices are trending down next week.
