Taking people's food is a delicate matter, Creagh admits. People would often like to bring familiar foods with them. Advertising is partly to blame for this, because Australia is marketed as the last frontier, the home of Crocodile Dundee. And there are many people who come to Australia concerned that they won't be able to buy ordinary food. It's a blurred line.
Chocolate bars are okay, and candy gets a pass.
The nuts in chocolate bars are okay. Creagh said there are a couple of ways around the rules. If it is not a food item, it can be fumigated. The beagles are trained to respond to 32 target odours, these include meat, plant material, fruit, bird eggs, live birds, reptiles, all sorts of things. In the vast majority of cases, Creagh said, undeclared items are an innocent mistake.