Turns out you can still bring your chicken torta or pollo asado lunch across the border from Mexico.

But for a while it looked like those foods were toast.

The U.S. government had wanted travelers to show proof from none other than the Mexican government that any processed poultry, including deli meats, being brought across the border had been thoroughly cooked.

Now, it just has to look like it has been well-cooked.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently issued the rule to guard against bird and poultry-related diseases found in certain countries.

Mexico is on the list where Exotic Newcastle Disease, a fast-spreading and fatal virus affecting birds, has been found. In humans it causes mild flu-like symptoms, pink eye or laryngitis.

The threat of the disease is well known in Mexico. In 2004, that nation banned imports of live birds, eggs and poultry products from throughout the United States after an outbreak of avian influenza in Gonzales County, Texas.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspectors were charged with enforcing the new rule on cooked poultry and did, maybe a little too broadly at first.

The agency in early April said cooked poultry required government certification that it had been cooked to a minimum of 74 degrees Celsius (165 Fahrenheit) or have a USDA Veterinary Services import permit. It made no exception.

The feds also added cooked eggs to the list of foods that required an import permit.

It's unclear how many cross-border travelers lost their lunch this way. It's a safe bet to say some did.

"When the regulatory change was implemented, all cooked poultry meat brought by travelers from Mexico, regardless of the quantity, was being seized," CBP spokeswoman Angelica De Cima said in an April 13 e-mail response to a SanDiegoRed.com query.

However, the e-mail continued, the USDSA had revised its rule and now exempted small quantities of cooked poultry meat - "for example, in a lunch."

It's unclear what triggered the change in enforcement.

SanDiegoRed.com had inquired about the practicality of seizing all poultry regardless of the amount and was referred back and forth to the USDA in Washington and CBP in San Diego.

DeCima said most of the poultry coming into the country from Mexico through the San Diego land ports was for personal consumption.

SanDiegoRed asked how cooked poultry meant for human consumption could affect live poultry.

CBP spokesman Ralph DeSio said he wasn't certain but there might be concern about birds picking at discarded poultry meats.

CBP finally announced last week that small quantities of cooked poultry meats did not need certification, only visual inspection to make sure they appeared "thoroughly cooked throughout."

Cooked eggs from Mexico remain prohibited, regardless of whether they are for personal consumption.

The USDA had exempted eggs from the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Sonora but not any longer. It did not explain why.

So how much cooked chicken is considered for personal consumption?

CPB defined amounts less than 50 pounds. Now that is one super-sized torta.

Leonel.sanchez@sandiegored.com