You butter believe it - an expat's precious tub of butter was taken from her by Dublin Airport officials who maintained that it could have been used to make explosives. 

Karin Kelly was traveling back to her home in Milan on an Aer Lingus flight last week when her bag was halted at the security scanners.

The 34-year-old expat had a tub of Kerrygold butter, as well as her other favorite Irish foods, in her hand luggage.

Speaking to The Star, she told the newspaper that a security official asked her, "Do you have butter in there?"

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"I said 'Yeah, I have' and he said 'I'm afraid you can't bring this through' and I said 'Oh really?' he went 'No, because it can be used to make explosives' and that was the hilarious part. I've never heard that one before,” she told the publication.

"He said 'You don't have any soft cheeses?' to which I said 'No, I don't, I have hard cheese' and he said 'That's' grand' so there's a distinction between the cheeses as well."

No hard feelings though for Kelly, who "shrugged it off". 

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"I just shrugged it off. Because I travel a lot I know that different airports seem to have slightly different takes on things and I've had things taken off me before. I've had caviar taken off me once before."

In a statement, Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) confirmed that butter is considered to be a paste, which if it exceeds 100ml can not be carried on board in hand luggage.

The DAA spokesperson added that other condiments like jam, chutney, and Nutella are also considered to be of a paste consistency and aren't permitted.