Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd was in New York dispensing his regular job as the country's key representative to the United Nations General Assembly when he was briefly held on Monday by U.S. Customs officials for allegedly possessing a suspicious item.

The item in question, media reports said, was Vegemite - a regular Australian breakfast staple that U.S. President Barack Obama once described as 'horrible' but preferred even by the most high-profile Aussies such as Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

While Obama took the dark brown paste as a mere 'quasi-vegetable-by-product spread', Ms Gillard did not waste time to politely correct her American counterpart by declaring that Vegemite is actually terrific when eaten right.

"You don't put it on like jam ... You do it very lightly and spread it very thinly," the Prime Minister was quoted by ABC as saying as she tried advising anyone interested in the proper way of enjoying the unique Australian spread.

For most Australians, appreciation of Vegemite - made largely from yeast extract - is an acquired taste and once you are hooked it becomes indispensable that Rudd even took the trouble of carrying it with him during his numerous travels abroad.

And it got him into some form of trouble with the U.S. Customs but the former Prime Minister took the episode lightly and jokingly tweeted that the whole misunderstanding was quickly resolved through his 'ministerial intervention'.

"Only problem travelling to NY is that they tried to confiscate our Vegemite at the airport ... Needed Foreign Ministerial intervention," Rudd said on his Twitter page shortly after the incident.

It appears too that U.S. officials quickly realised that what the Foreign Minister was lugging along was anything but harmful.

"Airport staff were surprised when I said it is good for you and I ate it for breakfast. They then waved me through," Rudd added on his Tweets.