While some are for personal consumption, larger quantities carefully concealed in cars and trucks are smuggled for profit. Customs and Border Protection officers seized a large load of Mexican bologna hidden in the back of an SUV at the Ysleta port of entry in El Paso. The contraband in the form of red-colored rolls, called chubs, turn up time and again. In the more than 20 years Vasquez has inspected food products at border crossings, Mexican bologna has persisted as one of the most popular prohibited food items. They smuggle it across because they’re able to sell it per se under the table,” said CBP Supervisory Agriculture Specialist Katherine Vasquez. “It’s loved and they crave it for the most part. But that doesn’t stop people from trying to bring the meat from Mexico. The bologna is not allowed across the border because it’s made with pork and could introduce a foreign animal disease into the United States.

“I love Chimex and it’s very frustrating because we can’t cross it either,” she said.

She grew up eating the best-known brand in Ciudad Juarez. While picking up steaks and short ribs for her family, she lamented she can’t buy Mexican bologna, too. Miriam Ortiz, a shopper at La Mejor Texas Meat shop in West El Paso understands the popularity of the lunchmeat from Mexico. Customs and Border Protection officers at international bridges are also finding a popular contraband comfort food stashed in vehicles - Mexican bologna.

Smuggling attempts at the U.S.-Mexico border during the COVID-19 pandemic include more than drugs.

Chimex bologna