Holiday travellers packing one of the season's traditional fruitcakes had better hope their journey's short. Transport Canada says the festive confections are not welcome on the nation's airplanes.

The ban is not, as one might suspect, the punchline to a joke about old, dried-out fruitcakes making lethal weapons.

That would be in bad taste.

According to the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, fruitcakes are being banned because they are notoriously difficult to identify on the X-ray scanners used to inspect air travellers' luggage.

And that, according to the agency's Jacques Duchesneau, means the otherwise innocent cake could prompt unnecessary security alerts and subsequent delays.

The fruitcake is just the latest in long list of items banned from travellers luggage in the wake of the September, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

All the likely weapons -- from automatic guns to razor blades -- are banned, of course. But among the more unusual items, air travellers would do well to remember they should leave their ice skates at home. Or at least pack them securely in luggage destined for the cargo hold.

As for that homemade wine intended as a gift for travellers' hosts? It should also be packed away. It's one of the "unidentifiable" items the security authority has banned from carry-on luggage.

And, the agency warns, don't forget to take any holiday gifts you're packing unwrapped. If the contents are hidden beneath ribbon and wrapping they could be opened by security personnel at the airport.