While almost all travelers will bring some kind of snack with them on a trip for reasons ranging from avoiding the inflated airport prices to having something familiar to eat in a strange place, the food that one tries to bring on a plane is a perennial source of problems at the airport.
The three-one-one liquid rule put in place as a post-9/11 safety measure has limited any drinks, creams or gels that travelers bring in carry-on luggage since 2006.
Most recently, the rule became the subject of international press coverage after international tourists who came to the U.S. for the World Cup kept getting the bottles of ranch dressing they bought as a souvenir taken away by TSA. The government agency specifically singles out yogurt, hummus, jam, peanut butter, and cream cheese on its website as foods that can look semi-solid but will almost certainly be flagged by security.
Gas stoves strictly forbidden from your suitcase, TSA reminds travelers
The latest jokey advisory — the government agency has increasingly turned to humor and light trolling for its social media strategy in recent years — put out by TSA targets not a food but an item that some use for cooking.
“Listen, friends,” the TSA wrote in a post first published in June 2025 and reposted this year as the summer travel and camping season heats up. “We love watching cooking shows as much as you do, but any top chef has to know that you cannot bring a stove with a propane tank attached through airport security in your carry-on bag.”
Related: TSA issues stern new warning about peanut butter
Due to the fire safety risks around transporting flammable gas, propane is banned both from carry-on and checked suitcases on all commercial flights; it is transported as cargo under specific Hazmat procedures.
A reminder of this law came after a traveler in Florida was caught trying to bring a camping stove with such a tank through security in a carry-on bag.
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“Let this be a learning moment for everyone”: TSA on camp stoves and propane tanks
While camping stoves that are small enough to fit in luggage can theoretically be brought aboard a plane if they are clean of any residue, the propane tank that often comes attached to them is a major no-no on any commercial flight in the U.S.
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“The passenger said he was unaware that stoves and propane tanks couldn’t be carried on a plane, so let this be a learning moment for everyone,” the TSA wrote further. “Propane tanks cannot and do not belong in either your carry-on or checked bags.”
Numbers released by the TSA at the start of 2026 show that the agency confiscated over 11,500 dangerous or otherwise prohibited items from travelers passing through security in the previous year.
While unusual or funny ones like an entire stove get called out by the agency in social media posts, some of the most common items confiscated during the summer months are corkscrews, Swiss army knives and small personal scissors.
Related: New U.S. travel warning comes with threat of prison time
