So flew in last night from London, one suitcase for clothes, the other suitcase - chocolate and 600 teabags. Of course I get checked. The officer opens my case and starting laughing, calls over the other two officers and they cant believe my stash!
He said- what are you going to do with at least 45lbs of Cadbury chocolate here? (He looks at me - a little shrimp of thing who weighs less than a 100 lbs) - that is not for you is it? I assured him that my OH would not only not sell even one bar, he wouldn't even give a square away! I think they were so blown away by the sheer amount of chocolate that they didn't even notice the few little other items that were hidden amongst it.! They did say they have a seen a lot of british chocolate coming through lately.
OH has filled his chocolate fridge and is one happy camper!

Haha! I shall be doing a similar thing in a couple weeks. However, one look at me and it is obvious what will be happening to the chocolate. I shall be eating it. I am not a "little shrimp of a thing" like you.

I was in a store that had real Cadbury's recently - some of the good stuff is still getting through.

World Market in Bluffton, SC had UK Cadburys the other day.

I come through with a suitcase of Cadbury chocolate from Costco everytime I go back to England (been back 4 times in as many months so far this year) and I declare it with no issues. Why were your suitcases being searched do you think?

So naive poster here - what are the easy indicators of UK vs American cadbury?
I seem to have no issue in persuading my 3 US born kids that British chocolate is waaaay better than American. Hubbie is not impressed that the kids turn up their noses to smores made with Hersheys.

I always check the "food" box when bringing back chocolates. Usually I get asked by the primary immigration inspector what food I have, occasionally by the primary customs inspector too. Last time I wasn't asked by either. One time I got sent to secondary customs inspection - he just looked in the carrier bag that I had my chocs in and sent me on my way without looking at my other bags. It's just luck of the draw I think.

As rpjs said it just random searches but I was just below the dollar threshold for exemption and $500 of chocolate does seem a little excessive! I also had smoked salmon and cheddar (declared) so perhaps they thought they'd just have a look to make sure I didn't have any contraband.. I was going to bring some taramasalata but changed my mind at the last minute.

Quickest way to ID an EU grocery is to look for the weight, which will be in grams first, and customary second or not at all and will have the European "e" sign next to it.

Headed back from the UK yesterday with this little haul - all documented on the customs form!

Hershey's "Cadbury's" has "distributed by Hershey's" or some such on the label. And of course the lack of vomit taste in the UK version is a giveaway

M&S Percy Pigs - my kids (grown up!) love them!

The US version says made under licence by the Hershey Company.