what is allowed to be taken into the US

[craigs bride]

When we go over i am planning on taking some teabags,small cereal boxes ,some coffee..(for hubby cant survive with out his first cup in the morning ) jars of baby food to keep me going and maybe some biscuits..
do i need to declare this all.?

 

[jen_uk]

You don't need to declare any of it, the only things you can't take are meat, fresh fruit and veg, dairy etc. Packaged cereals etc are fine

 

[snookhams]

just aske DH who works at Heathrow - and he says that teabags and coffee are ok in hold luggage as are the cereal boxes and biscuits, jars of baby food, they have just been told this 'Exceptions to the 100ml rule can be made for baby food or milk. However, you should only carry what you need for the flight, and you will be asked to taste at least 50% of the containers at security control'.

The american airport regulations state ' Canned goods and goods in vacuum packed jars (other than those containing meat or poultry products)are also generally admissible if being imported for personal use', but I would declare it on the form anyway - we had all our luggage searched one year looking for undeclared food, we had none but the officer told us that they often found parents with young children had undeclared food - so always make a point of including it on the form.

 

[Lisa x]

I wouldnt see there being a problem there....

Although Publix do more or less everything the same out there as we do here and for no extra costs so maybe it might be worth saving the extra luggage allowance for......shopping...and Disney stuff!

We even leave our shampoos etc behind and get them all when we get there....usually dont manage a park on the day of arrival so a trip to the local Publix is usually in order!!

 

[wayneg]

Although Publix do more or less everything the same out there as we do here and for no extra costs so maybe it might be worth saving the extra luggage allowance for......shopping...and Disney stuff!

Publix do stock many things, some stuff similar price to here, other things are a little more expensive.
We never take anything with us buy it all there but there is a difference in some things for example Necsafe coffee, its a different blend to what we get here, not quite as nice but certainly not bad enough for me to trail from UK.

 

[craigs bride]

thank you all ..i only want to take enough to last until we can get to walmarts
so will declare it all just incase

 

[Stitch's Greatest Fa]

Now this thread has me worried, do I need to declare the sealed box of baby formula powder in my hold luggage?

 

[wayneg]

Now this thread has me worried, do I need to declare the sealed box of baby formula powder in my hold luggage?

Don't know if this helps, http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/children/formula.shtm
Might be just advice about liquid not read it.

 

[disneyholic family]

the law is very clear..

you must declare ALL food that you bring into the country, even if it's permitted..


the customs officer will ask you what food you're carrying and you'll say - tea/coffee/candy/cereal and he'll just send you on your way...

by law, if you don't declare everything and they find something, even if it's permitted, they could come down on you...they don't ever do anything for not declaring permissible food... but by law they could....
so best to declare everything....which simply means, check 'yes' on the food line...after all, candy is food...

i never like to give a customs officer any reason to nitpick - if they get up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, you never know what they might do..

i actually mistakenly brought in salami once.....but i'd declared all my food so it didn't matter..
until that year, i'd flown into canada, which is much more lenient on what you can bring into the country (and then we drove across the US border, so at that crossing they obviously don't give a hoot what food you bring across)..

anyway, i'd forgotten that i was flying into the US instead of canada....
and i had the salami with us...
the moment i started filling out the declaration form on the plane i realized what was going to happen..

when i got to customs, he asked "what kind of food"
i answered, very sheepishly because i knew what was coming, "salami" ...a suitcase full of the stuff...

he sent us over to another desk where there were two women officers...
they each had on these massive gloves that went all the way up to their shoulders and were thick enough that they would probably have withstood a nuclear blast...
anyway, they very gingerly took the salamis...as if they were radioactive...and dumped them into these huge reinforced bins (that look like what you would throw unexploded bombs into)..

i couldn't stop laughing....the funniest thing i'd ever seen..

they weren't mad at me or anything, since i had declared it on the form....

anyway...the whole thing was kind of worth losing all that money just to see them do that....

but they're not funny at all if you don't declare something that's not permitted..

one time when i came into JFK, there was a women with several little children...she'd forgotten to leave the orange she'd brought on the plane for her children....well...they very nastily grabbed the woman and took her back...somewhere...i don't know where...but they were REALLY nasty to her...i've never seen anything like that.....
and the penalty for bringing something like that into the country is HUGE...

anyway..

bottom line, declare everything.....it's the customs officer's job to decide what's permitted and not....declare and leave the decision to him/her....

 

[aaronandterri]

yes once i forgot the banana i had got for jack on the plane was still in the bag, and the customs officer was very cross, he was soo busy goingon at me after it had been placed on the table that no one noticed jack go up to it open it and eat the lot while we were still "discussing it"....lol

 

[gbrchill]

One of DW's colleagues went through MCO with her boyfriend. They were collecting their bags when he was accosted by one of the sniffer dogs. It all got a little heated and he was removed from the scene. She was waiting for him and wondering what he'd got in his bag - drugs, explosives... Eventually he came back a little flustered it was an orange that he had meant to eat but had forgotten about. He didn't have the rubber glove experience but we always remember the story as we pass through customs.

When you fill in the form if you are in any doubt with the answer to the questions ask and declare what you have if it could vaguely be contraband. If you declare it and they confiscate it then that's that. If you don't and they discover it it might just ruin your holiday (or perhaps emotionally scar you for life).

Chris

 

[Miss Mo]

So am I ok to take a banana/grapes on the flight for my toddler to eat? He's not got a seat so doesn't get any meals so am struggling of thinking of things I can take that won't need heated. I wouldn't be taking any of it off the plane.

mo x

 

[gbrchill]

Don't worry about what you take onto the plane (as long as you abide by the restrictions with respect to liquids and gels). Anything that doesn't get eaten by the time you get to the USA can either be left on the plain or dumped in one of the many bins for such things before you go through the department of agriculture check point (at customs).

Probably best just to leave it on the plane.

 

[wayneg]

So am I ok to take a banana/grapes on the flight for my toddler to eat? He's not got a seat so doesn't get any meals so am struggling of thinking of things I can take that won't need heated. I wouldn't be taking any of it off the plane.

mo x

Yes you can take anything like that with you, just leave any fruit or meat on the plane.

1st time we took my Mum she had a roast beef sandwich in her bag she hadn't eaten, sniffer dog found it. Dog handler was very friendly about it just took it off her.

 

[Miss Mo]

Thanks guys that's great, hadn't even crossed my mind til I saw this thread.

mo x

 

[Stitch's Greatest Fa]

Am still a little unclear, we have to declare all food - this means food in suitcase as well as hand baggage?

 

[juju216]

Am still a little unclear, we have to declare all food - this means food in suitcase as well as hand baggage?

Yes, you have to declare EVERYTHING, no matter whether in hand luggage or hold. I had cadburys chocolate in my luggage last year (dont ask!) and declared it, they just scanned suitcases and we went on our way

 

[buzz for boys]

We took a whole suitcase of food for my dd because she cant have gluten I I was worried that we would not be able to find her much to eat and the customs were brilliant about it theyd id asak and they did laugh at how many loaves of bread pks of bics and chocolate dips we had for one tiny prson but it was not an issue at all !! The customs guy just said they have issues with meat dairy and fruit and to b honest all those things can be bought easily so i dont understand why anyone would wnt to take it in anyway !
Dont worry CB you will be fine with all the stuff on your list x

 

[gbrchill]

You can take virtually anything that isn't meat, fruit or dairy. The key thing is to declare it, let them inspect it and they will either confiscate it or let you through. You do your bit and they do theirs. The problems start when you don't declare stuff.

We had prunes last time (it's a long story) we just made sure we had them easy to hand so that they were easy to inspect. No problems.

Chris

 

[craigs bride]

We took a whole suitcase of food for my dd because she cant have gluten I I was worried that we would not be able to find her much to eat and the customs were brilliant about it theyd id asak and they did laugh at how many loaves of bread pks of bics and chocolate dips we had for one tiny prson but it was not an issue at all !! The customs guy just said they have issues with meat dairy and fruit and to b honest all those things can be bought easily so i dont understand why anyone would wnt to take it in anyway !
Dont worry CB you will be fine with all the stuff on your list x

thanks buzz ! x