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My wife is currently in Portugal with me in Europe, and she is leaving tomorrow and of course being close to Christmas she bought a lot of things.
She is carrying 12 bottles of wine, some of special olive oil, and other gourmet stuff, cheeses.
She also has bought chouriço, 'presunto' (sorry i don't know the name in English), and some other things.
Reading the Customs website was disappointing since I found out traveling with any type of meats is not allowed, so most likely is if she takes it with her it will be thrown out or consumed by the customs officials in a nice party.
If she doesn't declare them, well she risks being caught and probably fined, and that's for a 20-40 euros worth of chouriço and presunto, and is probably not worth the risk of being fined hundreds of dollars.
Can I bring in food as a traveler (fruit, cheese, meat, etc.)?
The information contained in this answer does not apply to food being sent to the U.S. through the mail, courier services or other means.
So, my question is of course,, if it doesn't apply to food being sent by mail and courier services, can I just send through mail a package with chouriços and presunto in it?
I haven't been able to find anything regarding the mail shipment rules, maybe someone can clear my doubts regarding the mailing of these products?
You have even bigger problems, I'm afraid. That case of wine isn't coming to the USA either. The Federal limit is one liter per person, and clearly you are way over that limit. (Your state may have an even lower limit.)
Solution for the wine is to send it by mail marked as olive oil, and hope for the best. (I'm not recommending this, but I know that's what the European wineries do.
And that bottle of olive oil isn't coming home in her carry-on due to the limits of liquids for carry-on luggage. She can send that in her checked luggage, and risk ruining everything in thesuitcase and the suitcase itself if the bottle breaks. (I'm not recommending THAT either, as the oily mess would likely damage other passengers property in checked luggage.)
It's way more complicated than the first page you read. Simply put, take it to the airport and hope for the best, or stick it in the mail marked as 'books' and maybe break the law.
Best solution is to return what you can to the sellers and get your money back. Or share with friends in Portugal.
You have even bigger problems, I'm afraid. That case of wine isn't coming to the USA either. The Federal limit is one liter per person, and clearly you are way over that limit. (Your state may have an even lower limit.)
Solution for the wine is to send it by mail marked as olive oil, and hope for the best. (I'm not recommending this, but I know that's what the European wineries do.
And that bottle of olive oil isn't coming home in her carry-on due to the limits of liquids for carry-on luggage. She can send that in her checked luggage, and risk ruining everything in thesuitcase and the suitcase itself if the bottle breaks. (I'm not recommending THAT either, as the oily mess would likely damage other passengers property in checked luggage.)
Usually they waive those... wine it's okay.
The limit is that WITHOUT TAX. They can be picky and make you pay the tax which is 1-2 dollars per liter, which still makes the wine much cheaper than in US.
She already took 6-8 bottles before and the customs official didn't say a thing, he said it was okay, and didn't pay the tax. We don't mind paying the tax.
Before I've taken 10 bottles of wine in a suitcase and it was fine. Of course I assembled it correctly. Lots of bubble wrap and tape. The package kinda looked like a drug package like you seen in movies, probably explaining why my luggage was broken into by the US Customs (had a little note inside) but it was more than fine.
Aside from the bubble wrap also had lots of plastic wrapper, just in case something would break the liquids would be retained.
As far as risking it taking it, do you think if she declares it shes pays fines? I can try to send it thru mail
Fruit will be harder in some areas than others. If you fly into Florida, they'll be much bigger on agricultural inspection because of serious concerns over invasive pests that can ride in on raw plant product. (On the bright side, the agricultural inspection beagles are adorable.) I suspect they care much less about fruit if you're flying into a place like Chicago.
Just portuguese prosciutto and smoked blood sausages.
Flying into Newark
They use dogs to sniff these things out. There is a reason that meat products and fruit must be declared and in some cases are prohibited. The fines for not declaring them are steep.
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