Can I bring food into the US like cheese?

[bolido2000]

I'm currently in south america and I want to bring with me some cheese empanadas (like a croissant with chesse filling) back to the US. Everything is already baked. Is that allowed?

 

[TitanDiddly]

From where?

 

[frankgomez75]

You smuggling some south american product inside of empanadas?

 

[FoBoT]

us customs web site should have that info and/or US dept of agriculture

 

[bolido2000]

It's from Chile. I haven't been able to find this kind of empanadas in socal. They only have deep fried ones and baked ones with beef in LA.

 

[ntdz]

I don't think it's technically allowed, but if you check it, I highly doubt they'd find it or do anything about it.

 

[DaWhim]

just smuggle

 

[kami333]

Supposedly it depends on what kind of cheese but I've never seen it elaborated on (along with a lot of things customs/immigration related but that's another issue...). I've brought in cheese from the Netherlands without any problems before. They are mostly concerned about meat and fruit. One trick I've learned is that if you wrap it up nicely in wrapping paper as if it were a gift, they don't open it. TSA might, but customs won't.

 

[Pepsei]

hard to find link

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

When they threaten you, tell them that you specifically asked if this was OK before and they said ok. I mean we wrote cookies before and they said its ok. I will use that excuse if they ever give me trouble again.

 

[mindmaniac]

Just make sure it isn't from Camembert cheese from France. That's banned since it isn't pasteurized.

 

[The Stigenator]

you can bring it.. its not an agricultura product.. you dont have to declare it.

 

[SampSon]

Give it a try, the worst they can do is eat it in front of you.

 

[herkulease]

don't fret, worst case declare it or @ customs ask them. claim the flight attendants aren't sure either.

that's what i did. the flight attendant didn't know it it was necessary to declare snacks the airline gives you. the form says all food. Though I really didn't buy the snacks from another country so was it necessary? I was told nope didn't have to.

They won't fine you if you are not actively trying to smuggle it in. Most of time they just throw it away if its not okay.

 

[igowerf]

Eat them and smuggle them in your stomach.

 

[Pepsei]

Originally posted by: SampSon
Give it a try, the worst they can do is eat it in front of you.

the first time i smuggled in a bag of bacon snack without declaring it, it showed up on some sort of x-ray machine. the bitchy lady threaten me with fines and made a copy of my passport.

the second time, i let my brother carry a box of pastries made with mince meat. the x-ray didn't pick up.

i guess it had something to do with how dense the proteins for the machine to see.

this is at the detroit international.