MINNEAPOLIS— A Massachusetts man is going viral on TikTok after TSA pulled him aside at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International for his hand luggage full of SPAM.
“I’m so ashamed,” Joel Libed said in the video, as a stunned TSA agent pulled out ten cans of SPAM.
The agent then asked if they were SPAM’s regular flavors, to which Libed replied that they were “all the special flavors,” and he was especially excited about the teriyaki flavor.
Libed explained in a later TikTok that he was born in Hawaii, where SPAM is a staple of the local cuisine. He worked as part of an Irish dance group that was on tour, and the group made their first stop in Austin, Minnesota, where the SPAM Museum is located.
He said the group of 20 Irish dancers were only allowed to visit the museum for a short period of time, but that a woman working on their costumes was an employee of the museum. He told her how much he loved SPAM, and she came back with a box of about a dozen different flavors.
Since he went on tour, Libed said he carried the SPAM with him for 2.5 weeks. His luggage was too heavy and he had to take the SPAM as hand luggage.
In the video, the TSA agent told them to run “a quick test” on the SPAM before letting Libed through, which they ultimately did.
Since the video went viral — it’s been viewed about 4 million times — Libed has prompted a few other TikToks to try out different flavors of SPAM.
SPAM is made by Austin-based Hormel Foods. The name is a portmanteau; the “SP” comes from the word “herb” and the “AM” comes from “ham”. It turned out during a 1936 New Year’s Eve party that inventor Jay Hormel hosted for his creation of canned ham. That creation fed American troops during World War II.
