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A family of four from Florida visiting relatives in New Jersey got an unwelcome surprise at the Customs gate — all because of some forgotten fruit and vegetables.

Family Fined $300 For Vegetables In Backpack At Newark

A family of four from Florida visiting relatives in New Jersey got an unwelcome surprise at the Customs gate — all because of some forgotten fruit and vegetables.

The oversight was an expensive one that has the family fuming, reports CBS 2’s Sean Hennessey.

“I don’t have to be traumatized like this. Nobody should have to be traumatized,” Suri Steinberger said.

Suri and Peter Steinberger are livid after what they call an over-reaction by customs agents at Newark Liberty Airport. They were told they had violated a federal crime — forgetting about an apple, a tomato and three cucumbers in their son’s backpack.

“For me it was like, you know, what you see on TV. I thought I was going to get handcuffed, they have my kids. So I just started to cry,” Suri Steinberger said.

The run-in with Customs agents happened Thursday at the end of a long trip from Israel. Suri packed the vegetables as snack for her boys.

“Let them eat it on the plane instead of eating garbage,” Suri said.

The problem was she didn’t sit with her husband and two boys on the flight and Peter didn’t know the produce was in the bag.

So when the declaration form came around, Peter said he “checked no on all the boxes.”

Customs officials told Hennessey strict rules are for “agricultural integrity” and that passengers have multiple opportunities to amend the Customs declaration form.

“I have no idea what they mean by that except for the fact they say you should have been looking at the posted signs,” Peter said.

While passengers were stunned at the strictness, others said it was par for the course.

“Other countries do it, too. They’re pretty strict. I travel a lot for work and I get the same thing,” said Christine Colella of North Brunswick, N.J.

Customs did say it’s up to the discretion of the officer to “destroy” the product or “fine the traveler,” discretion this family said was sorely missing given the Customs sheet showing the prohibited items and their $300 fine.

“You’re coming off a flight after 19 hours. You’re all flustered. You don’t know what world you’re on. The first thing on your mind isn’t vegetables in your backpack,” Peter said.

The family hopes what happened is a lesson to others that even an innocent mistake at customs may be a costly one.

The Steinbergers said they don’t expect to get their money back but do plan on taking the case with higher ups at customs.

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10 Comments

  • R. Gould

    Our government at “work” again, profiling any one from Israel as guilty until proven innocent. I am sure if this was a flight from an Arab country nothing would have happened.
    Golus!! We need Moshiach Now

  • To Number 1. Please take your head out..

    They gave their son a whole tomato to eat? Three cucumbers?

    It is illegal to bring fresh fruit into this country. And it should remain this way so we don’t invite foreign pesticides and other critters into our country (not saying that Israel has these, but they don’t make policies just for Israel).

    When you land they ask you on the Customs form “Are you bringing fresh vegetables?”.

    Oy, Ad Mosai, Golus, Moshiach, Rk Bls Mini, Anti-semitism… If this was a flight from an Arab country, the guy’s head would be one with the tarmac by now.

  • gotta eat ur spinach

    So not only do we get “randomly selected” for a nice pat down,pay a ridiculous amount for air fare, but we get fined for bringing vegetables on a plane. Great way to save the economy!

  • Why are the parents fined?

    The child was “smuggling” the vegetables. HE should be fined, NOT the parents.

  • Milhouse

    Come on, who doesn’t know that you can’t bring fresh fruit and vegetables into almost any country? And that you have to declare ALL food that you’re bringing in? There’s a garbage bin just before customs where you can throw out any fruit & veg that you have left over from the flight. Or you can just declare it and let the customs agent decide whether to confiscate it or let it through. But you ALWAYS declare it, even if you’re 100% sure it’s OK, e.g. a box of cookies.

    Also if you’re carrying more than $10,000 in cash, ALWAYS declare it; otherwise if they find it you will lose it! I don’t get why people take the risk of not declaring it; what do they hope to gain by doing so?

  • ceo

    tired parents. they forgot. give them a break and confiscate it. no fine, its anti-parent. I would have forgotten too, with young children and being tired from a long trip.

  • Judaism 101

    some here are quick to defend the law.

    Number 2, if only you were were so careful with Torah law.

    You don’t know what its like to pack a tomato and cucumber since it never occurred to you that Jews keep kosher. While you just pick up a sandwich from the airport McDonald, Jewish people need to pack food from home to feed their kids.

  • THATS CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Thats to much money for a few forgotten vegitables!!!!!!!!!!