TSA confiscates cupcake, blogs about it

(CBS/AP) PEABODY, Mass. - The Transportation Security Administration confiscated a frosted cupcake last month from a Massachusetts woman who was about to board a plane in Las Vegas. Now, the government agency is defending its decision to "take the cake," by blogging about it.

In a blog comment posted Monday, the TSA says the cupcake was packed in a jar filled with icing, which it considers a gel under a policy designed to protect travellers from terrorists.

Rebecca Hains, of Peabody, Mass., sounded a bit frosted herself after she was barred from taking her cupcake onto a plane last month. A TSA agent said the icing in the jar exceeded amounts of gels allowed in carry-on luggage. Hains has called that "terrible logic."

But the TSA's blogged defense says, "just about any common appliance, toy or doohickey can be turned into a dangerous explosive. When you think about it, do you think an explosive would be concealed in an ominous item that would draw attention, or something as simple as a cute cupcake jar?"

The agency says that while travellers can take cakes, pies and cupcakes through security checkpoints, they should expect to face some additional screening.