A man wound up going viral on social media after TSA workers pulled him aside at the airport to check his bag, only to find it stuffed with several different varieties of SPAM.
Joel Libed is originally from Hawaii but now resides in Massachusetts. He recently shared a clip on TikTok of the moment when the TSA officers pulled his carry-on bag after it went through the scanner.
The video shows how the TSA officer opened the bag, and discovered it was 100% full of SPAM tinned meat, which he pulled out, one by one. “When TSA pulls your carry on and it’s all… SPAM,” the text overlay read. Here’s the video:
@joellibedny Sorry not sorry i love @SPAM®️Brand @Hormel Foods @SPAM®️ Museum #spam #tsa #fyp
The 1-minute long video has accumulated more than 5 million views since he posted it on May 26th.
Libed was traveling from Minneapolis back to the Boston area after a work trip. He said he had visited the Minnesota SPAM museum during the trip. “I was traveling with a show, and we hit Austin, Minnesota, where the SPAM Museum is located,” Libed told Newsweek. “I was gifted that case of SPAM from a worker there. It was so sweet.”
When he was packing his bags for the return flight, his checked luggage was pretty heavy, so Libed decided to transfer the SPAM from his checked bag to his carry-on. “As I packed my suitcase to go home, it was close to being overweight, so I took all the SPAM and put it in my carry-on. I honestly didn’t think much about it, but the second it got pulled off the scanner belt, I instantly got nervous,” he said.
The TSA agent who pulled him from the queue proceeded to empty the bag to check the contents. More than one person started chuckling at all the cans of SPAM.
“Some of my co-workers were already cracking up, so out of nervous laughter, I told the TSA guy what it was and started recording,” Libed said. “I was kind of embarrassed as he pulled everything out, and people walked by and looked at it, but he was so cool about everything and let me through once we knew what it was.”
What TSA’s official website says
TSA’s AskTSA website doesn’t have a listing for SPAM (and yes, I did check LOL). However under “Food,” it does include a category for “Canned Food”:
Carry On Bags: Yes (Special Instructions)
Checked Bags: YesThere are some items that are not on the prohibited items list, but because of how they appear on the X-ray, security concerns, or impact of the 3-1-1 rules for liquids, gels and aerosols, they could require additional screening that might result in the item not being allowed through the checkpoint. We suggest that you pack this item in your checked bag, ship it to your destination or leave it at home.
For more prohibited items, please go to the ‘What Can I Bring?’ page.
The findal decision rests with the TSA offiver on whether an item is allowed through the checkpoint.
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