Transportation of Avocados

Browsing through the municipal code of La Mesa, CA (it's a suburb of San Diego and also happens to be the fine town that I call home), I came across this unusual law:

Every person who transports a commercial quantity of avocados shall cause a statement of ownership to be prepared and retained in his personal possession at all times while transporting said avocados...
"Commercial quantity of avocados" shall mean any quantity of avocados in excess of forty (40) pounds exclusive of the container...
Any peace officer, upon probable cause to believe a person is transporting a commercial quantity of avocados, may stop such person and inspect such avocados, whereupon, the statement of ownership described in Section 10.70.030 shall be presented to said peace officer upon request.
Any peace officer, upon reasonable belief that a person is not in legal possession of a commercial quantity of avocados, may seize such avocados without warrant. Upon seizure the peace officer shall take custody of the avocados and turn the same over to the custody of the Chief of Police.

Obviously we take avocados seriously out here. I wonder if the same rule applies to guacamole.

(image source)
     Posted By: Alex - Thu May 21, 2015
     Category: Food | Government | Regulations





Comments
You sure those aren't dragon eggs, Alex? Those look like the dragon eggs that Daenerys carried into the fire.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 05/21/15 at 09:22 AM
I think it's just that the Chief of Police really likes guacamole and got some buddies at city hall to draft him this bit of legislation.
Posted by Miles on 05/21/15 at 01:01 PM
I suppose that eating 40+ pounds of avocados would render them as something other than a "Commercial Quantity" but maybe not. Time to set the legal precedent!
Posted by crc on 05/21/15 at 02:05 PM
Hey maybe they have a big guacamole loving family!
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 05/21/15 at 06:03 PM
My son and I have discovered that no one complains when an an entire half of even the largest avocados is put onto a burrito. If I had over 40 pounds of free avocados to work with we would keep pushing to find out if there really is any upper limit to how much avocado a burrito can take.
Posted by Miles on 05/21/15 at 10:01 PM
This might be a surprise to some, but all cities in California are not L A or San Fran some are based on Agriculture and not plastic surgery. Theft of produce is rampant and police need probable cause to arrest them so they set a limit
Posted by WMcCreery on 05/22/15 at 01:33 AM
"And now I'm going to show you how to defend yourself against someone armed with fruit..."
Posted by KDP on 05/22/15 at 02:04 PM
They're keeping an eye open for cannibals!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094834/
Posted by TheCannyScot in Atlanta, GA on 05/23/15 at 03:23 PM
Alex,

Eating an Avocado this morning while reading your post. Didn't know the lovely neighboring city of La Mesa had a law about "carrying" Avocados. Since I buy them at Costco La Mesa I'd better be prepared.

Dana Law
El Cajon, Ca
Posted by Dana Law on 05/27/15 at 12:15 PM
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