The USDA is after me for ordering French Rations - NEW 5/21 UPDATES! This is happening! To everybody :-(

[carlosflar]

Interesting rules. It never came to that before. And when the rations go to customs, what happens ?
1. It is removed from the prohibited items and send on. 2. It will be confiscated entirely
3. It's being sent back.

Usually(US customs) they will open the envelope and they confiscate the products, but if the customs declaration specifies food they may ask you directly for a FDA notice(costs 10$) where you specify ingredients and such of what you are sending...
I was asked only once for this paperwork tho...

[prado67]

Thanks for the reply. I think this is idiotic because canned products, at least in Russia, are fully sterilized. How can they be infected? I've been eating military rations for 19 years and nothing ever happened to me !

[carlosflar]

Thanks for the reply. I think this is idiotic because canned products, at least in Russia, are fully sterilized. How can they be infected? I've been eating military rations for 19 years and nothing ever happened to me !

Well... All caned products are sterilized *up to a point*... True sterilisation is at 121°C, most of the places don't get this far, it's common practice everywhere and for pretty logical reasons... Lower standards should still be completely OK, the problem comes when there is an outbreak, which can happen, and it happens from time to time both outside the US and inside... So these norms are put in place to avoid stuff like this, also because differences between how some things are produced and I believe mainly because of economic reasons...
I don't know much details but in the EU you can only get in products up to the EU standard, so that means that someone has to come and inspect your factory, which is super simple if your factory is in the EU, but if its outside, things change, and for the US it's the same, they don't know if what you do in terms of quality of production is true, the way to "let them know" is to have this inspection, which is a pain in the ass from what I know and probably it's only done by the factories that plan on shipping stuff to the US... So ration factoried probably don't even bother thinking about this...
I have basic knowledge on this so maybe some things aren't all that right, but I believe this is the main scope...

[mikeoverhere]

Thanks for the reply. I think this is idiotic because canned products, at least in Russia, are fully sterilized. How can they be infected? I've been eating military rations for 19 years and nothing ever happened to me !

I thought so too, and I thought there was an exception for sealed sterilized products. However some diseases like Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, is a stable protein and must literally be burned to ashes to destroy, canning process will not work. Also, they confiscated the sweetened condensed milk in my Russian ration that had already been rooted through by CBP and had the meat components removed. USDA said the sterilizing process must be a higher temperature to prevent contamination from diseased cows so domestically it would be fine but not when importing from restricted countries. They did let my powdered milk drink through.

It really stung when I had to turn over my last two imported rations as they were Russian and I ordered them specifically because they pack a lot of meat in the rations so not much was left over beyond crackers, tea, and apple jam. When Customs finds the products, they turn it over to USDA to determine if they are restricted, and if so USDA destroys them and the rest of the package is sent through. If USDA tells Customs a product is allowed, like say pork or fish or something, then they let it through or send it to you. If you are in possession of restricted imported items, you can't sell them, give them away, consume them, or even destroy them yourself. They actually send an agent over to record and seize them.

We all know dang well that ration products are sterilized and no 1st world country is going to give uninspected contaminated rations to their military. There should be an exception. I am really going to miss Russian rations. They are my favorites because of all the meat in them but since I've been caught I can't risk importing them anymore. So many Russian ration versions out there and available, this really sucks!

[prado67]

Yeah ... In Russian language there is one thing word which describes the entire this idiocy - PIZDEC !
What happens if you order rations again ?

[mikeoverhere]

Yeah ... In Russian language there is one thing word which describes the entire this idiocy - PIZDEC !
What happens if you order rations again ?

If I import foreign rations with meat in them and are caught, I risk the USDA prosecuting me on federal charges. They already have a case open on me and could prosecute me for the first infraction they detected, they simply chose not to and used it instead as a warning. They could prosecute anyone they catch for the first offense and that includes anyone that has had customs open up their ration and remove the meat - they could prosecute you for trying to illegally import prohibited products from restricted countries. Once caught, you are basically on probation and if you break the rules again they will decide whether or not it's worth prosecuting you.

[prado67]

Yeah. What kind of products are prohibited?

[mikeoverhere]

Yeah. What kind of products are prohibited?

Generally speaking, beef and beef milk products. Sometimes other meats not fish. Read my post "USDA Animal Products Manual", it will tell you what is restricted, from where, and what the rules are for importation.

USDA agent told me beef or products mixed with beef will be confiscated, other meats at the discretion of USDA to Customs. Cheese was okay but they also took the sweetened condensed milk. Not all countries have the same restrictions. It was importing beef from France that set USDA after me.

[prado67]

I think USDA destroy konfiscated goods using his mouth. They perfectly understand that there is no infection there

[mikeoverhere]

Has anyone even heard of a case of contaminated or diseased sealed and sterilized military rations causing an illness? I know there was a recall of milkshakes from a batch of US MRE's quite a few years ago but I've never heard of anyone getting sick. I'm not counting food that has spoiled due to age or poor storage conditions. This is all so ridiculous. Military food rations are inspected by inspectors no matter the country, just because it's not USDA shouldn't matter.