As the price of foods continue to rise in the United States, authorities on the border are seeing more seizures of eggs as people attempt to smuggle them into the country from Mexico and Canada, where eggs cost nearly half as much.
“The San Diego Field Office has recently noticed an increase in the number of eggs intercepted at our ports of entry. As a reminder, uncooked eggs are prohibited entry from Mexico into the U.S. Failure to declare agriculture items can result in penalties of up to $10,000,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection San Diego Director of Field Operations Jennifer De La O tweeted on Tuesday.
Seizures at the border have spiked by more than 100 percent.
U.S. egg prices were up 60 percent in December compared to the previous year. Between October 1 and December 31 alone, egg and poultry seizures rose 108 percent, according to Department of Agriculture statistics.
