Australia’s notoriously tough quarantine officials will issue on the spot fines to cruise ship passengers who bring food ashore.

Agriculture minister Warren Truss said six new mobile X-ray machines would be used in the crackdown on banned items following a tightening of regulations which previously only allowed air passengers to be fined on the spot.

The A$200 fine for a minor infraction could escalate to A$60,000 if passengers were found to have deliberately hidden an item in breach of the country’s strict quarantine laws, Truss said in a statement.

He said more than 330 cruise ships each carrying up to 1,500 passengers berthed at Australian ports every year and quarantine officials had seized more than 2,000 items in the past year.

“The most common items taken on shore for day stopovers are pieces of fruit, sandwiches and snacks,” he said.

Quarantine officials using highly trained sniffer dogs roam among incoming passengers at Australia’s airports, checking all luggage for food, plants and other banned items.