Butter wouldn’t melt in my hand luggage

Tuesday 7th July 2009, 3:01PM BST.

From Jeff Gillard.
‘BUTTER is a liquid.’ So say security at the airport. Last week my wife set off to England to visit family taking with her Jersey Royals, mint and a pack of Jersey butter.

On inspection of her hand luggage the security person said, ‘You can’t take that (meaning the butter) it’s a liquid’ and therefore confiscated it.

Now butter is made from milk which is a liquid, butter on the other hand is not unless melted. I hasten to add it had been in the fridge all night and was as hard as a brick.

So if butter is deemed to be a liquid by airport security where does that leave cheese. Seems to me like a touch of over reaction.

What do they think a mature lady was going to do with it? She was hoping to spread a little happiness by promoting Jersey goods, but their bread was not buttered on either side thanks to airport security.
The Haven,
Bellozanne Valley,
St Helier.

1
james

July 7, 2009 at 3:50 pm

To be fair, Have you seen the mess butter makes when it suddenly turns into a liquid and explodes, Ive never heard its explosive when put on jersey royals before! funny thing is if you look at the back of butter it is measured in grams and not pints! I would love to know where do they find the people to work in these places, Im now worried to take my large bar of chocolate on the plane as it says on the back, made from half a pint of milk! infact can someone call out the bomb squad in case it goes off!(joke)
What a waste of time and money! When the IRA were bombing london or ETA trying to attack airports were we told to put all our things into a minature bag and not bring any butter on the plane! Next one will be you cant wear underpants on to the plane as you could suffocate someone with the elastic!
Its all down to common sense! and unfortunatly George W Bush 1st and 2nd, never had any! they were the ones that got us all into this mess! and the economic situation were in, If you dont believe me look at the spending per year for the troops going to Iraq, uk and American. Thats where all the floating money went, What a waste of time for all!

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2
Islander

July 7, 2009 at 10:20 pm

It would be quite possible to conceal something in a block of butter. It could easily be moulded around anything that was of a suitable size. I will leave it to your imagination as to the range of options.

I had not thought of it before but the rule actually sounds sensible in these uncertain times even if the explanation given was not detailed enough.

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3
Warren J

July 7, 2009 at 11:02 pm

I would have thought that the bottles of spirits sold in Duty Free are far more volatile than a pack of Jersey Butter !

James, your cholcolate is indeed at risk – It could be thought to be plastic explosive in disguise !

Before the restrictions and plastic bag rule, I found myself with half an hour to spare on a day trip to London, and called into Fortnum and Mason. Managed to stuff 4 jars of Brandy Butter and two jars of Mincemeat into my briefcase.

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4
Nellie Macon

July 8, 2009 at 1:15 pm

Right then Alan MacLean, you’re in charge of harbous and airports – get your staff together and compile a sensible list of prohibited items when departing from the airport and publish it please. Then educate all your security staff so that they are all obeying the same rules and using their commonsense.

This ties in very well with the “buy local” project – what’s the point of buying local produce if you can’t take it back home? As long as the pack of butter looked pristine and untampered with (if indeed the security staff were considering someone having tampered with it) then what’s the problem?

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5
bella

July 8, 2009 at 1:22 pm

I,ve had a jar of jam taken off me,even though it was sealed with shop,s special label.
last year they tried to take a tin of chicken in sauce off me,i demanded to see manager and he told security it was ok as 75% contents was meat!this is getting beyond a joke now all through tony blair and his weapons of mass destruction

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6
joker

July 9, 2009 at 1:39 pm

Some physicists argue glass is a super cooled liquid. Does that mean we can take anything made of glass on?

Islander #2
that’s what the x-ray machines are for… unless of course x-rays can’t penetrate Jersey butter!

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