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Florida Family "Traumatized" By $300 Fine For Bringing Produce Through Newark Airport Customs
By
John Del Signore
Published Aug 12, 2011
Modified Aug 12, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Aug 12, 2011
Modified Aug 12, 2011
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A Florida family is "fuming" over a $300 fine they received after they got caught bringing an apple, a tomato, and three cucumbers from Israel through Newark Liberty Airport on Thursday. CBS 2 reports that Suri and Peter Steinberger are "livid" over the incident, which they chalk up to an honest mistake. When preparing for the long flight home from Israel, Mrs. Steinberger put the produce into her son's backpack as a snack, reasoning, "Let them eat it on the plane instead of eating garbage." But she didn't tell her husband about it, and for some mysterious reason the boys never ate those raw cucumbers or the fruit!
Peter Steinberger didn't declare the vegetables, which violate U.S. Customs strict laws intended to maintain “agricultural integrity." Steinberger tells CBS 2, "You’re coming off a flight after 19 hours. You’re all flustered. You don’t know what world you’re on. The first thing on your mind isn’t vegetables in your backpack."
They intend to fight the fine, and hope that all the media attention will be of service to other travelers going through Customs with good intentions but an indignant ignorance of the law. "I don’t have to be traumatized like this," says Suri, who wept during the incident. "Nobody should have to be traumatized." Oh, the humanity! Perhaps the only silver lining in this tragic tale is that the kids at least got out of having to eat the veggies.
Tagged
customs
fruit
israel
newark airport
vegetables
whining
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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