A traveller entering Australia from Bali was given a £1,500 fine after being caught with two McMuffins in their rucksack.
The egg and beef sausage McDonald’s breakfasts were discovered in the bag along with a ham croissant at Darwin airport amid a massive biosecurity crackdown.
Strengthened measures have been brought in at Australian airports since the highly contagious foot-and-mouth-disease was detected in Bali, a popular holiday destination for Australians.
The traveller was handed $2664 in fines for failing to declare potential high biosecurity risk items and providing a false and misleading document.
Murray Watt, the minister for agriculture said “this will be the most expensive Macca’s meal this passenger ever has, this fine is twice the cost of an air fare to Bali”.
However, the minister said he had “no sympathy for people who choose to disobey Australia’s strict biosecurity measures, and recent detections show you will be caught”.
The McMuffins were sniffed out by a biosecurity detector dog Zinta.
The black labrador was part of a new $14m biosecurity operation brought in after the Indonesian outbreak of FMD amid fears it could have a huge impact on Australia’s farming industry.
The seized meat products will be tested for FMD before they are destroyed, authorities said.
It comes after an Australian woman was fined $2,664 for failing to declare a Subway sandwich at the airport after returning from Singapore.
