Hundreds of pork tamales from Mexico were seized by U.S. customs officers and incinerated earlier this month.

A traveler coming through Los Angeles International Airport from Mexico with 450 pork tamales was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists due to the illegal transport of pork, according to a press release from the agency.

Pork is listed among the products travelers may not bring into the country under current customs regulations.

The passenger, who denied that there was any pork in the tamales, was fined $1,000 because authorities believed the tamales were being brought to the U.S. for sale and distribution.

Enjoying tamales around the holidays is a tradition for many Latinos.

The passenger would have had no issue with customs if the tamales had been the sweet variety. The Customs and Border Protection agency stresses that bringing pork in from another country into the U.S. is a serious potential threat to the public health.

Anne Maricich, the acting director of the CBP’s Los Angeles field operations offices, said that, despite the demand for the Latin American treat around the holidays, bringing the product into the country is a definite health risk.

“Although tamales are a popular holiday tradition, foreign meat products can carry serious animal diseases from countries affected by outbreaks of Avian influenza, mad cow and swine fever,” she said. “Every day, CBP agriculture specialists prevent the intentional and unintentional introduction of harmful pests and foreign animal diseases into the U.S.”

A Customs and Border Protection spokesman said that all 450 of the tamales were incinerated.

Other peculiar items prohibited by the U.S.Customs and Border Protection include Absinthe, a legendary alcoholic drink favored by the artist Vincent van Gogh, and Haitian animal hide drums, which were once linked to a case of anthrax.