Spanish man fined US$2,300 and deported from Australia over undeclared pork meat, cheese
- The 20-year-old was the first traveller to be punished under new biosecurity laws after an officer in Perth found undeclared raw pork meat and goat cheese in his luggage
- ‘I hope this man regrets his actions – his visit to Australia was over before it even began,’ a minister says
The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment on Monday said that the man had his visa cancelled and was fined A$3,300 (US$2,300) after an officer in Perth found over a kilogram of undeclared raw pork meat and cheese in his luggage on Tuesday.
Officers found 275 grams of non-commercial pork pancetta, 665 grams of non-commercial of pork meat and about 300 grams of goat cheese which weren’t declared, the ministry said in a statement.
“I hope this man regrets his actions – his visit to Australia was over before it even began, and he’s been sent packing with a hefty fine,” Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said.
“This was a serious breach of Australia’s biosecurity laws and could put Australia’s agricultural industries at risk,” the minister said, stressing that the strict rules were also an attempt to keep diseases including foot and mouth out of the country.
