A backpacker travelling to Australia has been fined £1,500 after two undeclared egg and beef sausage McMuffins and a ham croissant were found in their luggage by an airport security dog upon arrival.
The unnamed person was travelling from Indonesia and was fined $2,664 Australian dollars (£1,513) after the McDonald’s breakfast sandwiches from Bali were found in their luggage at Darwin Airport, Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry reported.
“This will be the most expensive Maccas meal this passenger ever has, this fine is twice the cost of an airfare to Bali, but I have no sympathy for people who choose to disobey Australia’s strict biosecurity measures, and recent detections show you will be caught,” Minister Murray Watt said in a news release.
According to Mr Watt, the airport’s new biosecurity detector dog, Zinta, sniffed out the biosecurity breach last week.
The seized meat products will be tested for foot and mouth disease (FMD) before they are destroyed.
“Australia is FMD-free, and we want it to stay that way,” he said.
“Biosecurity is no joke – it helps protect jobs, our farms, food and supports the economy. Passengers who choose to travel need to make sure they are fulfilling the conditions to enter Australia, by following all biosecurity measures.”
Detector Dog Zinta in Darwin with handler at Darwin airport
(Australian Ministry of Agriculture)
The passenger was issued a 12-unit infringement notice for “failing to declare potential high biosecurity risk items and providing a false and misleading document”.
The incident took place just as Australian authorities introduced new biosecurity rules after a Foot and Mouth (FMD) outbreak in Indonesia spread to Bali.
Last month, the Australian government announced a new $14 million biosecurity package to deliver more frontline defences in mail centres and airports.
The government has also rolled out biosecurity dogs at Darwin and Cairns airports, sanitation foot mats at all international airports, as well as on the ground support for Indonesia and neighbouring countries.
Last month an Australian woman was fined the same amount for failing to declare a Subway sandwich on her return to the country.
Jessica Lee from Perth revealed on TikTok that she received the fine after returning to Australia from Singapore with the sub.
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