milemarker0

They have a spray for "foot in mouth" disease....??? I need some of that...oh wait, foot AND mouth disease...nevermind.

longhorn55

TxTravelPro--We have had to check this box a few times over the years, most recently last summer upon our return from South Africa and it's no big deal. Your sister will be directed to a customs officer in the "Declare" line and be asked to produce the shoes she wore on the farm. So, they should be on top of her luggage for easy retrieval. The shoes will then be inspected. To save time and hassles, advise your sister to thoroughly clean her shoes before she leaves the UK. If she does this, the inspector will see that there is no soil on the shoes and quickly pass her through. No muss, no fuss.

MichelleY

Patrick:

It was a friend who had been to a farm and checked the box. He said he was pulled out of line. I don't know where they took him. He had not been near livestock, but had been to vineyards. He did not tell them this. They assumed a farm with livestock. It sounded like he had the shoes on.

Maybe I am confusing customs with USDA inspection. What ever. I am over 50 and having Sr. moments.

MY

escargot

Yes and we had the bottom of our shoes sprayed -
which I always wondered, what if the shoes I actually wore on the farm were in my suitcase and not on my feet - but they didn't ask me that one -

so they cleaned my shoes, which was great - and asked us what kind of farm and what we did and that was that.

ChristieP

After my week-long horse trek in Ireland (shortly after the 2000 Hoof & Mouth outbreak), I had to check "yes" to the farm/livestock box. I was sent to a secondary inspection, where the nice Customs guy took my filthy riding boots back to a back room and steam-cleaned them so thoroughly that they were cleaner than the day I had bought them! Fortunately, there was no body cavity search. ;-)

hetismij

janisj, the reason he always answered no after that was because that is what he was advised to do the second time he answered yes. We lived in a farmworkers cottage on a working dairy/sheep farm. We visited the animals rarely, and did not come into contact with their waste products often. He was questioned for nearly an hour the first time and as he was travelling with a group on business it was a major inconvenience to every one. This was in a more innocent time with no F&M or mad cow disease around. We only lived on the farm for some 15 months, but during that time he did make occasional visits to the US to various NASA facilities. The NASA staff also frequently visited us, staying with us on the farm but never once said yes to the question on re-entering the US. They advised my husband to reply no in future.

We would never dream of taking fruit or vegetables into the US, or any other country where they are forbidden.

FurryTiles

Hi TxTravel

In September last year, we entered the US at Logan Airport, Boston, after a three week holiday in a cottage on a farm in Sweden. We ticked the ‘farm visit’ box as well as the food section, as we had ground coffee beans in our luggage. I wrote the farm area/country on the form, and specified the food item. We took the ‘Items to Declare’ line, and as we headed in that direction, a Customs officer checked our list – made a phone call on his mobile – and as we approached with our bags, gave the thumbs up to his colleague and we strolled through without stopping.

Way ahead of all the other passengers who were in the 'Nothing to Declare' line!

Some you win,
Jackie

julies

We've done this lots of times coming back from Europe because we often take off-the-beaten path vacations. Once or twice we were put in a different line, but that was the extent of it. We've never had our shoes sprayed.

About 8 years ago though we were asked to put our suitcases through a special machine intended to detect organic matter. We laughed when mine got a flase positive and was opened up--I had a small roll of toilet paper that triggered the machine. Apparently toilet paper is organic matter.

Toucan2

I've also checked the yes box. I had thoroughly cleaned my shoes before leaving the UK, and as others have said, had them in a separate bag on top of the other contents of my bag.

A few questions and I was on my way.

flanneruk

I always tick "no". We don't expect visitors to our country (an island, BTW) to go through such nonsense. , TXTravelPro's sister can go through our immigration without any of these idiot questions.

If there were an outbreak of foot and mouth within 50 miles of my house, I'd do differently. But since I know a great deal more about what diseases are floating round my local farms than the bloody jobsworths at Kennedy Airport, and no-one can demonstrate the point of this absurd stunt to create jobs for unemployable public servants, I'm not wasting even more time at US Customs after being kept waiting at immigration for an hour because your immigration people can't organise themselves.

And for those of you who think I'm bringing some dread disease into your country: tell me precisely the damage of a bit of sheep dung on my shoes will do and I'll reconsidser.

But there isn't any. So I won't.

Vttraveler

My husband and I visited a sheep farm in Scotland once years ago and at customs they were definitely interested in checking our shoes. They didn't spray them.

atravelynn

Yes, probably 4 times. Once or twice I was asked briefly about it. One time my stuff was searched a little more closely. No big hassles or delays.

I even once checked that I was bringing in animal products when I returned from Mongolia with a gift of sheep and goat ankle bones used for games of chance. I was waved right through without insepction of the bones.