Topic Wiki

Australia: No chicken, dairy, meat, fruit, or vegetables unless it's retorted/shelf stable (Such as La Briute meals) shmebeble had issues with MealMart- 26 meals. Something Fishy was allowed sealed milk and cheese from the U.S.
Belize: Click here
Costa Rica: No raw meat (According to the Health Dept rep at LIR, it's meat on the bone that's an issue, he let us keep all the meat that had no bones - this may be relevant to other countries)
Galapagos: Extremely strict. Click here for more details.
Fiji: Same rules as Australia.
Maldives: No alcohol
Mexico: No beef or cream cheese. Chicken YMMV.
New Caledonia: Same rules as Australia.
New Zealand: Similar to Australia, some small differences but expect thorough checking
Nicaragua (land crossing): No issues with meat etc, but they taxed us for the 40 bottles of wine (I quickly mocked up a receipt on my phone showing the original price per bottle as $4)
Taiwan: no meat at all, even beef jerky or other dried meats. Even frozen airline meals are banned so no POM meals either (source).
United Kingdom: Click here
United States: No meat, fruit, or vegetables.


No issues experienced in:

Argentina
Aruba
Bahamas
Belgium
Bermuda
Bosnia and Herzegovina (Neum land crossing)
Brazil
Canada
Croatia (Debeli Brijeg and Neum land crossings, Zagreb)
Cuba
Czech Republic
Ecuador (NOT Galapagos - see the top section for that)
Faroe Islands
France
French Polynesia/Bora Bora
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guatemala
Honduras (see here for important details)
Hong Kong
Iceland
India
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Kenya
Lesotho (Sani Pass land crossing)
Macau
Madagascar
Malaysia
Martinique ($5,000 worth of wine, meat, dairy - no issues BH)
Malawi
Mauritius
Montenegro
Morocco
Norway
Palau
Papua New Guinea
Peru
Philippines
Sao Tome and Principe
Seychelles (Reports of them being strict but didn't have trouble)
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Svalbard
Switzerland
Tanzania
Thailand
UAE
Uganda
US/Guam
US/Hawaii
Vanuatu
Vietnam
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Author Topic: Countries That Have Food Restrictions  (Read 217954 times)

Offline efflpetzel

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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #20 on: May 03, 2017, 10:33:00 AM »
In Norway you're actually better off taking the declare lane and declaring a bottle or something (wine 36 NOK/bottle IIRC), if you're declaring it's much less likely they'll check your bags.
I believe that strategy is true everywhere

Online AsherO

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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #21 on: May 03, 2017, 10:34:47 AM »
I believe that strategy is true everywhere

What can you cheaply declare when entering the US? Doesn't everyone exit the same lane anyway?
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Offline Dan

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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #22 on: May 03, 2017, 10:35:45 AM »
Taking the nothing to declare line doesn't necessarily mean it's not enforced.
Really it depends on how suspicious you look and how many people are checked.

In Australia and Mexico for example the majority of people are checked, so their rules are more applicable.
In other places most people aren't checked.

Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #23 on: May 03, 2017, 10:36:19 AM »
You sure? I had go fill out agriculture form and sign that I had no vegetables.

Even if they dont actually check, I imagine its a bad idea to lie on an actual signed form.
Who do you even hand in the form to?
They really just care about ex-Hawaii flights. Heavy enforcement in that direction.
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Offline efflpetzel

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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #24 on: May 03, 2017, 10:45:05 AM »
What can you cheaply declare when entering the US? Doesn't everyone exit the same lane anyway?

It's not what you can declare it's the point of going over and asking them if something needs to be declared which in turn will make them much less likely to stop you for anything else

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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #25 on: May 03, 2017, 10:59:53 AM »
It's not what you can declare it's the point of going over and asking them if something needs to be declared which in turn will make them much less likely to stop you for anything else
Didn't work for me in AU. Asked them about a granola bar and they went through everything we had.
Though it seemed like they were going through lots of non-declared bags as well.
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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #26 on: May 03, 2017, 12:32:36 PM »
Mexico was fine with poultry products as long as made in US.  Israeli Turkey packages confiscated while Empire was fine for example.
They took away $1,200 worth of meat from us (kosher meat usually does not have a USDA seal on it, perhaps thats why?)
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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #27 on: May 03, 2017, 12:36:36 PM »
What are NZ's small differences from AU?
Can you bring any POM meals there?
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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #28 on: May 03, 2017, 12:37:30 PM »
Is Costa Rica OK with cooked POM meals?
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Offline zow

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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #29 on: May 03, 2017, 12:45:17 PM »
Mexico: told us no fresh fruit.  Inspected our bag because tennis balls looked to them like oranges.

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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #30 on: May 03, 2017, 12:51:03 PM »
Mexico was fine with poultry products as long as made in US.  Israeli Turkey packages confiscated while Empire was fine for example.
Laibel Miller (I'm sure Dan knows who he is) told me that when he goes to Mexico he splits the food into two or more suitcases with different people going together each taking one. He feels there's a better chance of getting some through without being hit with the red light upon entry.

While official USDA policy allows bringing in poultry, I have declared it in the past coming from Israel, and was told that the label needs to say that it's fully cooked, and it is up to individual inspector discretion.
I've been waiting over 5 years with bated breath for someone to say that!
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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #31 on: May 03, 2017, 12:53:12 PM »
Is Costa Rica OK with cooked POM meals?
Yes, they let all our packaged deli and cooked meats through.  (if there's an issue you can try saying: Comida Kosher para un festival judío)

I can put you in touch with the shliach there if you'd like.
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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #32 on: May 03, 2017, 12:55:02 PM »
Mexico: told us no fresh fruit.  Inspected our bag because tennis balls looked to them like oranges.
Reminds me how when I went there with DW and one month old baby, we handed the passports and birth certificate (at that time kids could still travel to Mexico with only a birth certificate) to the border agent (at the airport. The agent looks at the birth certificate first, sees the name and asks me "Uste..... [my daughter's name]?"
I've been waiting over 5 years with bated breath for someone to say that!
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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #33 on: May 03, 2017, 03:00:27 PM »
Yes, they let all our packaged deli and cooked meats through.  (if there's an issue you can try saying: Comida Kosher para un festival judío)

I can put you in touch with the shliach there if you'd like.
Was that in SJO or LIR ? In LIR they took away everything

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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #34 on: May 03, 2017, 03:39:39 PM »
Was that in SJO or LIR ? In LIR they took away everything
LIR, They wanted to take all our raw meat, I asked to speak to whoever is in charge, the head of customs & health came out and explained that there can be diseases in the meat, I googled and found something about a bone based disease...I asked him about meat without bones, he was surprised and said he will only take away raw meat that has bone (like ribsteaks) and let us go with the rest BH
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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #35 on: May 03, 2017, 03:41:31 PM »
Was that in SJO or LIR ? In LIR they took away everything
Raw or cooked?
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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #36 on: May 03, 2017, 03:46:20 PM »
Canada allows homemade or restaurant prepared chicken and beef, as long as its under 20kg per person, without any issues? Homemade food needs a label saying where the meat/ chicken originated from? Or is it all "nothing to declare"....?

Offline Something Fishy

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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #37 on: May 03, 2017, 05:19:40 PM »
Canada allows homemade or restaurant prepared chicken and beef, as long as its under 20kg per person, without any issues? Homemade food needs a label saying where the meat/ chicken originated from? Or is it all "nothing to declare"....?

I declared and all they wanted to know what which animal the meat is from.
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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #38 on: May 03, 2017, 05:31:16 PM »
Laibel Miller (I'm sure Dan knows who he is) told me that when he goes to Mexico he splits the food into two or more suitcases with different people going together each taking one. He feels there's a better chance of getting some through without being hit with the red light upon entry.
I believe we have a biblical source for that one...

Offline Dan

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Re: Countries That Have Food Restrictions
« Reply #39 on: May 03, 2017, 05:32:40 PM »
Laibel Miller (I'm sure Dan knows who he is)
Yeah, but I hear he eats the food from Pesach programs :P
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