Tamara Hardingham-Gill, CNN Posted Monday, August 1, 2022 10:49 PM EDT Last Updated Monday, August 1, 2022 10:49 PM EDT
(CNN) — A passenger traveling from Bali, Indonesia to Australia found himself paying a high price for a McDonald’s breakfast.
The unnamed traveler was fined A$2,664 (C$2,400) after two undeclared Beef and Egg McMuffins and a ham croissant were found in his luggage upon arrival at the airport in Darwin, in the Northern Territory of the country.
The incident came days after Australian authorities introduced tough new biosecurity rules after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Indonesia spread to Bali, a popular destination for Australian tourists.
Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said a biosecurity sniffer dog named Zinta detected a “wide variety of undeclared risk products”, including fast food items, in the passenger’s backpack.
“This will be the most expensive Maccas meal this passenger has ever had,” Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Murray Watt said in a statement.
“This fine is twice the cost of a plane ticket 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.”
Strict biosecurity measures
The statement went on to confirm that the passenger had received “a 12 unit infringement notice for failing to declare potential high biosecurity risk items and providing a false and misleading document”. Seized products must be tested for FMD before being destroyed.
“Australia is foot-and-mouth disease free and we want it to stay that way,” Watt added.
Last month, Australia’s federal executive government announced a $9.8 billion biosecurity package, with new measures introduced across the country’s borders, including sanitation mats at all international airports and biosecurity dogs stationed at both Darwin and Cairns airports after the highly contagious disease began. spreading through livestock in Indonesia.
Experts estimate that an outbreak in Australia could cause an economic impact of up to $80 billion.
“Travellers arriving from Indonesia will be under much stricter biosecurity scrutiny due to the presence of foot-and-mouth disease in Indonesia,” read a statement released by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry on July 19.
“Failure to declare biosecurity risks will be a breach of Australia’s biosecurity laws, and anyone found to be in breach could receive an infringement notice of up to $2,664.
“Travellers entering Australia on temporary visas may be canceled and, if so, refused entry to Australia.”
Although foot-and-mouth disease is relatively harmless to humans, it causes painful blisters and sores in the mouths and feet of animals with cloven hooves, such as cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, and camels, preventing them from eating and causing severe lameness and death in some cases.
The disease can be transmitted by live animals, in meat and dairy products, as well as on the clothing, footwear or even luggage of people who have come into contact with infected animals.
“The impacts on farmers if FMD comes in are too stressful to even contemplate,” Fiona Simson, president of the National Farmers’ Federation, told CNN last month.
“But it’s not just about farmers. Taking $80 billion out of Australia’s GDP would be an economic disaster for everyone.”