C.B.P. News Release

Dulles CBP Seizes Nearly 90 Pounds of Cooked Ethiopian Sheep Meat

(Friday, May 20, 2011)

Sterling, Va. — Counting sheep has long been a fabled remedy for falling asleep, but for CBP agriculture specialists, counting 15 bags of cooked sheep meat that an Ethiopian brought to Washington Dulles International Airport Thursday didn’t tire them one bit.

The sheep meat, cooked in red gravy, weighed about 88 combined pounds. Agriculture specialists discovered bagged sheep meat in each of the passenger’s six bags.

Title 9, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 94 (9CFR94) restricts the importation of animal products from countries that are known to have certain exotic foreign animal diseases, such as Foot and Mouth, and African and Classical Swine Fevers.

“Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists typically encounter similar food products arriving from Africa, but the sheer volume makes this an extraordinarily unique seizure,â€