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By: Sammy Sandala on Wed May 7, 2008

How do you import fruits, vegetables, plants, meats, and other products to the United States legally, and avoid hefty contraband fines (starting at $300 and going as high as $10,000!)? Every week, the average airport on the continental United States has to dispose up to 300 pounds of food that isn’t suitable for entrance into the United States. Meat is packaged and burned, fruits and vegetables end up in an industrial waste disposal process, and some poor grandson must lie to his poor Italian grandmother when she calls him and asked him how he enjoyed that proscuitto he made for . From yams to goat meat to certain canned foods – there are many items commercially available in many countries (even in Canada!) that for very valid reasons, are denied entrance into the United States. Here are some resources to use to help you avoid massive fines, and white lies.


Bring It In!
Before you return to the United States, getting familiar with the regulations governing bringing food back home will improve your chances, and limit the likeliness that you’ll be stuck with a massive fine for importing longans, lychees, durians, jackfruits, sapodillas, mangos, papayas, Roquefort, British beef, guavas, carambolas, cherimoyas, loquats, rambutans, mangosteens, longkongs, figs, guanabanas (sour sops), sugar apples (or custard apples), persimmons, milk apples, water apples (or rose apples), tamarinds, brie, or dragon fruits. Here are a couple of websites to visit beforehand:

US Customs & Border Protection
Right away, you’ll get answers to the question “Wath food can I bring to the U.S. (fruit, cheese, meat, etc)?” After each entry, there’s a link to more detailed info.

US Department of Agriculture’s Fresh Fuits & Vegetables Reference Database
This is a great website – you’ll find a list of food stuffs that are permitted entry into the United States, listed by country, product, and more.

US Department of Agriculture’s Complete Animal Product Manual
A little bit more in-depth, but if the food-stuff you want to bring over isn’t covered in the other websites, and you’re a little unsure, it might help you to know whether you want to risk it by looking at the criteria that the USDA uses itself to judge whether an item is permissible or not.

Buying a product in a duty-free shop does not guarantee that that item is permissible.

Items purchased off of the continental United States (such as in Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Guam) are still subject to confiscation.

Make sure that you keep any items you’re bringing in in their original containers! A broken seal or any open-air exposure might be considered contamination, even if the item is generally permissible.

Vacuum-sealed packages are generally looked upon more favorably by the US Customs & Border Protection agent than canned or regularly sealed items.

Make sure you keep your receipts so that the USCBP can calculate the duty, if applicable, on your food items.

Security regulations in the past five years have changed substantially, and now liquids are looked upon in a much harsher light than in years prior. Any liquids brought on the plane in your carry-on luggage must be kept in a bottle of a maximum volume of 3 ounces, and must be able to fit inside a 1 quart plastic bag. If you have any wine bottles or olive oil, make sure to pack the bottles carefully, wrap them to prevent breakage, and place them at the centre of your check-on luggage.

Declare EVERYTHING. The USCBP questionnaire you’ll be presented with upon entry to the United States asks “Are you bringing with you: A. Fruits, plants, food or insects? B. Meats, animals, or animal/wildlife products? C. Disease agents, cell cultures, or snails? D. Soil or have you visited a farm/ranch/pasture outside the United States?” If you’re even iffy about any item you might have in your luggage, it’s best to declare it and save yourself much misery and possibly some money later on.

Exceptions/Special Permission

In certain cases, you might be able to import some animal products with a proper import permit, but you’ll have to be prepared to spend money (the permit costs $91) and also to plan ahead, as it can take up to three weeks before the permit is processed. You’ll also have to provide the certification information of the government of the nation that you’ll be exporting from. Contact the National Center for Import & Export, 301-734-3277.

To transport any non-traditional fruits, vegetables and plants, you’ll have to apply for and get a “phyto-sanitary certificate,” which takes a bit of bureaucratic wrangling. Contact them through the appropriate channels here www.aphis.usda.gov