This was published 1 year ago
Passenger cops $2664 fine over McDonald's meal amid foot and mouth disease fears
By Craig Platt
The offending McDonald's items.
It's not what you would call a happy meal.
A passenger flying into Darwin was fined $2664 after bringing in an uneaten McDonald's meal from Bali, breaching Australia's strict biosecurity laws.
A statement issued by the Minister for Agriculture, Murray Watt, said the passenger arrived last week carrying two egg-and-beef-sausage McMuffins and a ham croissant.
Sniffer dog Zinta and handler at Darwin Airport.
Authorities are on high alert for biosecurity risks from Indonesia after an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the country.
The seized items will be tested for the disease before being destroyed.
The passenger received an infringement notice for failing to declare potential high biosecurity risk items and providing a false and misleading document.
"This will be the most expensive Maccas meal this passenger ever has, this fine is twice the cost of an airfare to Bali, but I have no sympathy for people who choose to disobey Australia's strict biosecurity measures, and recent detections show you will be caught," Watt said.
The items were sniffed out by a new detector dog at Darwin's airport named Zinta.
"Zinta was placed at Darwin Airport as part of the Albanese Government's tough new biosecurity defences, and it's excellent to see she is already contributing to keeping the country safe," Watt said.
The federal government last month promised tough new biosecurity measures to guard against the disease outbreak. Sanitation foot mats have been installed at all international airports and sniffer dogs assigned to Darwin and Cairns airports.
Mail arriving from Indonesia and China is now being screened for the disease.
However, some have called for the borders with Indonesia to be temporarily closed, including a group of farmers who rallied in Colac, Victoria last week.
Foot and mouth is one of the world's most infectious animal diseases and can devastate livestock.
The UK foot and mouth disease outbreak in 2001 resulted in more than 6 million animals being destroyed, costing an estimated 8 billion.
It's not the first time recently a passenger has fallen foul of Australia's biosecurity laws after bringing in a fast food meal purchased at an airport.
Last month, Perth teenager Jessica Lee went viral on TikTok after posting a video about how she had been fined $2264 for bringing in a forgotten Subway sandwich on a flight from Singapore.
The ensuing publicity around her story resulted in Subway sending her a voucher for $2664 worth of sandwiches.
See also: Faster security queues as Sydney Airport finally rolls out new scanners
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