The products shown here are legal, but there are many items—including meats and soft cheeses—that aren't allowed into the United States.

You Can Take it With You
What to declare at the airport, and what to leave abroad

At a baggage carousel in Philadelphia International Airport, an American returning from Spain waits for his luggage. A perky little beagle named Liberty sniffs at a carry-on bag at the passenger’s feet and gives her handler, customs officer Nancy Lazzari, a familiar stare that says, “Yep, he’s got food in there.”

“Excuse me sir, do you have any meat or fresh fruit or vegetables in that bag?” Lazzari politely asks. The passenger opens the bag to reveal several slices of serrano ham wrapped in plastic, prompting Lazzari to tell him, “I’m sorry sir, I’ll have to take that.

You can’t bring it into the country.”

That ham may have been brought in innocently enough, but says Lazzari’s fellow customs officer Kim Campbell, “I figure 90 percent of the people are lying to me.”

“We give people three chances to tell us if they are carrying contraband,” says Hal Fingerman, director of agricultural operations at the airport. “If they keep saying ‘no’ and we find something sewn inside the lining of a suitcase, the fine goes up. It also goes up for repeat offenders.” Fines for contraband may reach $1,000 for first offenses and up to $10,000 for more serious violations.

Every year, thousands of travelers abroad bring food back to the United States: cheeses from France; salamis from Italy; mangoes from the Caribbean. Many assume the food they bring in is harmless if it’s for personal consumption. Ain’t necessarily so.

The Mediterranean fruit fly, for instance, has caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage in the United States over the past 25 years or so. Many pests, like the medfly, are carried into the country on or in food brought by travelers. “A lot of people are just ignorant of the consequences [of illegally bringing food or plants into the United States],” Fingerman says.

Fingerman created the national beagle inspection program in 1992. Before that, bags were only checked outside the terminal, mostly by Labrador retrievers, as they were being offloaded from the planes. “We needed a less aggressive dog that wouldn’t cause problems with passengers,” Fingerman says. “Beagles were perfect. They’re small and have a great sense of smell.”

As a result of 9/11, inspection of food and agricultural products was transferred from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to the newly formed Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, an arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, though the USDA still sets policy and regulations. “The reason for the change was to create one face at the border and to enhance our abilities to prevent terrorism, primarily bioterrorism,” Fingerman says. “But it has also enhanced our ability [to inspect food] a great deal because now we have hundreds of eyes doing what only a few did before.” According to Sue Challis, public affairs specialist for the CBP, the number of airline passengers arriving from abroad has increased (since plummeting immediately after 9/11), but interceptions of contraband food have not. “That tells me that people are getting the message,” Challis says.

The two broadest categories of verboten foreign foods are fresh produce and meats. Produce can be tricky because some fruits and vegetables are forbidden from some countries but not others, depending on pest- and disease-risk analyses done by the USDA. For example, as a result of one of these investigations, citrus from Spain is not allowed, but citrus from Jamaica is. However, if the produce is not in a sealed bag, there is no way of telling where the fruit came from, so even if it arrived on a flight from an approved country, it gets confiscated.

In addition, infestations in various countries from time to time can make otherwise legal produce illegal; the fruit-fly problem is an example. That said, restrictions on produce grown in Mexico or Canada are less stringent than those on produce grown elsewhere. Check the CBP Web site or call its toll-free number () for allowable produce before you travel.

Paul Franson, a food writer from Napa, Calif., thought his puntarella seeds (a type of chicory) from Florence would be no problem, so he declared them (as everyone is supposed to do with all food items). “The customs agent pulled me out of line and said apologetically, ‘Nobody has ever declared these before,’” Franson says. The seeds were confiscated and destroyed. Contraband food is either ground up and disposed of at the airport or picked up by a hauler licensed to carry medical waste.

If you’re thinking about bringing in a vine cutting from Burgundy, forget it. Restrictions are pretty rigorous, often involving a lengthy quarantine and genetic analysis. Why? Remember phylloxera? Other plant material requires a permit before you go (see Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service below) and a phytosanitary certificate from the country of origin. The permit allows you to bring the plant material in and the certificate verifies that it is free from pests and diseases. (See Foreign Agricultural Service below for USDA field offices in other countries.)

While they are among the most commonly smuggled food items, meats, whether canned, fresh or cured, are prohibited in most cases. However, there are so many exceptions (based on disease outbreaks in different areas of the world) that it’s best to check with the CBP before leaving the United States. But knowing a meat is clearly off-limits hasn’t stopped people from trying to bring it in. “One person had 30 pounds of pig intestines from Italy. It was right there in with the clothes,” Campbell says.

Sometimes the food is in with the clothes but not in the suitcase. American Marlena Spieler, author of Grilled Cheese: 50 Recipes to Make You Melt (Chronicle), who has lived in England since 1989, admits to smuggling a salami from Campania, Italy, into the United States in her bra despite thinking, “no salami is worth going to prison for.”

One food group that most people would think illegal to bring in is cheese. However, cheese is fine as long as it is not soft (a runny Camembert) or in water (like mozzarella), because such cheeses are, according to Challis, most likely still in the semi-raw stage, with active bacteria, including infectious diseases. And there is no way of knowing whether these cheeses were made with milk that was pasteurized, which would eliminate the bacteria. Harder cheeses more than 60 days old—when harmful bacteria are no longer active—are allowed.

Going trout fishing in Scotland? Or perhaps thinking about bringing back some baccalà from Italy? Virtually all seafood, with the exception of Caspian caviar, may be brought back if it is for personal consumption.

Bakery items and candy, including those luscious Belgian chocolates, are generally admissible, as are canned goods and food in vacuum-packed jars such as roasted coffee, roasted nuts and condiments such as oil, vinegar, mustard, ketchup, pickles, syrup, honey, jelly and jam. The basic rule of thumb, Challis says, is that if the product was commercially canned and hermetically sealed, it’s OK.

With the exception of absinthe, alcoholic beverages can be legally brought into the country if the amount is less than 1 liter and there are no restrictions by the state in which you are arriving. Quantities greater than 1 liter are subject to duty and Internal Revenue Service tax.

Don’t assume that because something is available at a duty-free store in a foreign airport it can be brought into the United States, even if the store personnel say that it can. “They’re just looking to make a sale,” says Fingerman, who once upbraided a duty-free clerk for trying to sell him an item he knew couldn’t be brought into the United States.

Being a good citizen and avoiding hefty fines are two good reasons for declaring food products at customs, but there is one other. “I declare anything and everything now,” says Janet Fletcher, a food writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. “Not because I’m so honest, but because the ‘something to declare’ line is always shorter than the ‘nothing to declare’ line.”

What’s Legal and What’s Not

BRING IT

Alcohol
less than 1 liter (subject to restrictions by the state in which you are arriving)
Bakery Goods
Candies and Chocolates
Cheeses
except soft cheeses or cheeses in liquid
Coffee Beans
roasted
Condiments
such as olive oil, vinegar, mustard and jam (if commercially and hermetically sealed)
Food Products
commercially canned and hermetically sealed; except meats from various countries
Nuts
roasted
Plants and Plant Material
at the very least, a phytosanitary certificate will be required
Produce
clearly identified from approved countries
Seafood
except Caspian caviar

LEAVE IT

Absinthe
Alcohol
greater than 1 liter (unless the generally nominal duty and IRS taxes are paid)
Cheeses
soft or in liquid
Coffee Beans
Food Products
not commercially canned and hermetically sealed
Meats and Meat Products
such as bouillon cubes and soup mixes (some exceptions)
Nuts
raw
Plants and Plant Material
without a phytosanitary certificate
Produce
from unapproved countries or whose origin cannot be identified
Rice

For More Information on Importable Goods:

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Sevice, Riverdale, Md., (877) 770-5990, www.aphis.usda.gov

U.S. Customs and Bureau Protection, Washington, D.C., (877) 227-5511, www.cbp.gov (for general information on bringing in food and beverages, click on Travel, then Know Before You Go.

By Sam Gugino
From Wine Spectator magazine