Is there a rule against taking food through TSA security checkpoints?

Is there a rule against taking food through TSA security checkpoints? - Young slender woman with closed eyes and mouth covered with sticky note showing cross on white background

Twice in the last six months, when I went through the TSA checkpoint at San Jose airport, the screening agents specifically checked that I didn't have any food in my bags. The first time, I asked the agent about it and he said that there was a new rule as of March(?) 2018 prohibiting any food from being brought through a security checkpoint - including (but not limited to) dry food and processed food like cookies, nuts, granola bars, or so on. The thing is, other people I talk to in other parts of the country have never heard of this rule, I can't find any documentation about it online, and when I flew from another airport in the northeast, they didn't mention anything about food.

So... is there actually a TSA rule against taking food through security? Or if not a general rule, is there something going on that's specific to San Jose?

If I'd only encountered it once, I could dismiss it as a fluke, but I've been told about this twice, from two different agents, several months apart, which makes it harder to dismiss.



Best Answer

Recently the TSA has been asking for food to be taken out of carry-on bags like electronic devices, and liquids. I mainly travel with prepackaged granola bars or cliff bars. I pulled them out and there wasn't any problems.




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