If you’re one of the millions headed to the airport this holiday season, take note: Homemade jam will jam up the security line.
As a frequent traveler in and out of Denver International Airport, Kathleen Triou considers herself well-versed about what items she can take through security.
But she was confounded on a recent afternoon when a Transportation Security Administration agent put her in a jam, over, well, raspberry jam.
“It was jam. Just homemade jam in a tiny Mason jar,” said Triou, a marketing executive from San Francisco who received the goodie as a gift from a colleague. “They said it has the potential to be bomb material.”
Triou — pronounced “true” — tried to explain.
“I told the agent, ‘It’s not gel, not perfume, not cosmetics, just jam.’ You could see the seeds in it,” Triou said. “She was not trying to hear it and continued to insist it could not pass through security as it could be bomb material.”
Triou’s not sure how many ounces the jar was — though she notes it could have been slightly more than the 3 ounces TSA permits for liquids — but she insists it was enclosed food and didn’t think the size limit applied.
A TSA blog says items such as jams, cranberry sauce, etc., are permitted but only in checked baggage.
Astounded by the sticky situation and wanting to at least show family members the neatly decorated jar of jam, Triou asked if she could snap a picture of it with her phone.
“No,” she says the agents told her.
“So now they say I can’t take a picture of the jam because we’re in a secure area,” Triou said.
Triou said the TSA agents then told her she could exit the secure area and go out and take a photo of the jam.
“At that point, it would have taken at least another 15 minutes to go back through security,” Triou said. “It just wasn’t worth it. But what’s worse is that if this is potentially ‘bomb material,’ why do they just discard it in trash can off to the side?”
Triou said she understands the agents were doing their jobs, but still, it’s frustratingly funny when you can’t even take a picture of your own item before tossing it out.
“I hope that my frustration might be someone else’s salvation as they travel this holiday season,” she said. Next time, Triou said, she will remember to pack the jam.
Kurtis Lee: 303-954-1655, klee@denverpost.com or
