by Donald Wood
Last updated: 11:55 AM ET, Tue November 16, 2021
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is preparing for a busy Thanksgiving holiday travel period and providing travel tips to make getting through a checkpoint as quick as possible.
For travelers heading through a security checkpoint with food items, TSA officers shared a helpful tip. If the food is solid, it can go through a checkpoint, but anything that can be spilled, spread, sprayed or poured-and is larger than 3.4 ounces-should be stored in a checked bag.
Security agents will likely also need to screen food items, so travelers should place the items in clear plastic bags or containers at home, and then remove the items from carry-on bags for additional screening at the checkpoint.
For travelers that need to keep food items cold during commercial air travel, the TSA said that ice packs are permissible, but they must be frozen solid and not melted when they go through security.
Thankfully, the TSA provided a list of food items that can be carried through an airport checkpoint:
-Baked goods. Homemade or store-bought pies, cakes, cookies, brownies and other sweet treats
-Meats. Turkey, chicken, ham, steak. Frozen, cooked or uncooked
-Stuffing. Cooked, uncooked, in a box or in a bag
-Casseroles. Traditional green beans and onion straws or something more exotic
-Mac 'n Cheese. Cooked in a pan or traveling with the ingredients to cook it at your destination,
-Fresh vegetables. Potatoes, yams, broccoli, green beans, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, beets, radishes, carrots, squash, greens
-Fresh fruit. Apples, pears, pineapple, lemons, limes, cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, kiwi
-Candy.
-Spices.
The TSA also provided a list of examples of Thanksgiving foods that should be carefully packed in checked baggage:
-Cranberry sauce. Homemade or canned are spreadable, so check them.
-Gravy. Homemade or in a jar/can.
-Wine, champagne, sparkling apple cider.
-Canned fruit or vegetables. It's got liquid in the can, so check them.
-Preserves, jams and jellies. They are spreadable, so best to check them.
-Maple syrup.
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