The Case of My Strawberry Jam

[Miss Mae]

I don't know why. But on this day last week, I suddenly remembered what happened to me at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) two to three years ago.

I was a gate away from the boarding area then when the guy at the counter took the jar of strawberry jam in my bag. It was given by our neighbor who just came from Baguio.

I was too dumbfounded to say something then. I also wasn't absolutely sure that a jam is a solid. But if it is a liquid, why wasn't it checked in the previous counters?

There are those in the web who think a jam is a solid after asking their science teachers. There are those who maintain that a jam is a liquid with only a high viscosity.

So I consult The Free Dictionary, which defined a jam as “a preserve made from whole fruit boiled to a pulp with sugar.” I looked into what a pulp formally means and learned that it is “a soft moist shapeless mass of matter.”

Considering those words, can I therefore conclude that the airport guy had abused his authority in taking my strawberry jam away? The one in our table was “net packed” in grams…

[Joe Carillo]

Whether the airport customs checkers at NAIA consider strawberry jam solid or liquid, they won't allow it to pass customs and get loaded on commercial aircraft. This is part of the security procedures in all international airports worldwide. So next time you go on a foreign trip, never bring drinks or packaged food as well as fresh fruits and other produce. They will all be confiscated outright at customs, whether at the airport of origin or at the airport of destination.

[Miss Mae]

Sir, I contacted the Airports Council International through its Facebook account to verify, but it hasn't replied to me till now.