What qualifies as food when a US Global Entry kiosk asks me if I am carrying any?
When using Global Entry to clear US customs, one of the four questions is (not verbatim) "do you have food?". I think it gives examples of fruits, meats, cheese, etc. which to me sound like unprocessed/raw foods.
However, I've read reports on the Internet of people getting chewed out or even kicked out of GE for failing to declare things that we would call food, such as potato chips, chocolate bars, sweets, and various other processed/mass-produced foods.
I've also read about people getting chewed out for declaring such food items and told that they are "wasting time" by doing so.
Is there an authoritative guide somewhere that defines these terms? I'm probably going to err cautiously and declare my bag of chips as food, but if there's a firm regulation or something that clears me, great.
Best Answer
After researching further and reading several discussions on the subject, it appears that the questions about food is ambiguous and CBP agents are not consistent in their advice. This question was intended to prevent revocation of GE permissions due to breaking the rules with a secondary purpose of not annoying CBP agents.
The general consensus seems to be that CBP agents may take opposing sides in the clarification of what defines a declarable food, and that the best method to ensure that GE status is not revoked is to always answer 'yes, I have food' if you are carrying anything that goes into your mouth. Some people suggest that this even extends to items like alcohol (likely) and medicine (dubious).
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Answer 2
If in doubt, declare. You can lose Global Entry/Sentri/NEXUS if you misdeclare and are caught.
Anecdotally, my experiences have been that they want you to declare anything edible. Pet food counts. Snacks count. Fresh produce certainly counts and must always be declared. Chewing gum... probably doesn't count.
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