What do horse sausage, dried penis and mangoes have in common? Answer: They're some of the foods commonly seized as contraband at JFK's international terminal, thanks to an adorable beagle named Izzy. City Room visits Izzy at her workplace today, taking a tour of the airport's "grinding room," the special area in the customs section where illegally imported foodstuffs are taken care of.
“Everyone thinks their country has the best mangoes,” said Meghan Caffery, a United States Customs and Border Protection agent who handles Izzy, who's been specially trained to sniff out agriculture products buried deep in incoming baggage. She's picked out Parisian apples, Chinese dried deer penises and skinned pig heads , whole lemon trees from Italy, bubble-wrapped caviar from Russia, and horse sausage from Russia tucked into a pair of ice skates. People have been known to pack their contraband with car deodorizer and and strap sausages to their torsos to get through undetected, but Izzy's snagged them all.
In case you're wondering what happens in that grinding room, contraband vegetable matter is ground, heated and disposed of, while meat is incinerated. It's kind of like a barbecue! But, you know, less fun.
