10469 Foodstuffs in Hand Baggage

Ciao Jinty
I returned last week from Ciampino to Stansted via Ryanair. My hand luggage was searched completely folllowing the xray. I had parmigiano, pecorino, coffee and homemade salami in the bag. The woman who searched didn't turn a hair about the food, just wanted to know what it was and then laughed when I told her. The reason it was searched was because of my make-up...ooops. I might add the weight limit for carry on luggage is 10kgs and mine weighed 17.5....they didn't mention that either!....I'm so bad

I am pretty sure you will be ok with parmesan cheese etc, it really is just the liquid/gel/syrup consistency things that they do not like. Apparently coffee is/was a means of smuggling drugs (the smell confused the sniffer dogs) but providing the packets are clearly unopened again you should be okay.
Mother in law often takes back cheeses (including mozzarella!), meats, tomatoes, peppers and any other seasonal fruit/veg and has never encountered any difficulites.

I am not sure how they classify things with more of solid, jam like consistency. Has anyone brought Branston pickle to Italy in hand luggage? Our youngest is a fan and would like some next time we go back but as we will have hand luggage only I am not sure if it is possible, I suspect it would be confiscated!

I had some cheddar cheese in my luggage going over to Italy. It looked suspicious as it has the same consistency as gelignite apparently. My bag was searched but as soon as they saw it was actually cheese and not explosive there was no problem.

I would very much doubt you would get Branston pickle through - but you could decant it into 100ml bottles, then it would be OK.

Tried to thank you "flying pig" but I'm not allowed so Grazie!

We've brought back salami, cheese, prociutto crudo, pine nuts, dried porcini mushrooms, olives ,fresh pasta and have even got away with small jars of anchovies (90g) The x-ray picked up the latter but when the customs officer saw the size it was ok. He just aksed if we could buy anchovies in the UK. He laughed when we told him the UK price!

A friend had a normal sized jar of Branston confiscated a few weeks ago, had a suitcase but carried the jar in his hand luggage !!!

Stribs

Can kinda understand Branston pickle being confiscated!
OK I'm going to risk it because the sausages we brought back in hold baggage last time were amazing....must remember to take the ice packs!
Grazie mille......

[quote=carmel;97468]We've brought back salami, cheese, prociutto crudo, pine nuts, dried porcini mushrooms, olives ,fresh pasta and have even got away with small jars of anchovies (90g) The x-ray picked up the latter but when the customs officer saw the size it was ok. He just aksed if we could buy anchovies in the UK. He laughed when we told him the UK price![/quote]

Ciao Carmel.......Just to let you know, Aldi have jars of anchovies in stock at moment also some stuffed with capers. Well Aldi in Truro did today...lol.
Hey two posts in one day after being a member for two years.....:wideeyed:

Ice packs will be regarded as liquid I should think, so not sure that's a good idea.

I regularly have my hand luggage stuffed with all types of food, which last time included 3kg of fresh figs!

[quote=Jinty;97472]Can kinda understand Branston pickle being confiscated!
OK I'm going to risk it because the sausages we brought back in hold baggage last time were amazing....must remember to take the ice packs!
Grazie mille......[/quote]

[quote=Jinty;97472]....must remember to take the ice packs!
......[/quote]

I agree with Russ; ice packs contain either a gel substance or a liquid so unless under 100ml (not much use then!) would be confiscated. I doubt the fact that they start off frozen would be taken into consideration.

Lots of delicatessen will pack cheese ham etc etc Sotto Vuoto (vacuum pack it) for free. This makes transporting it easy. No jars of chutney, pastes, jams or liquids are allowed unless they are max 100ml.
Jewish friends carry totally frozen legs of lambs in their hand luggage with BA and one Christmas carried to Italy, the stuffing for the turkey...they are Medico's and caused a stir at the airport when the bag was checked!!!

Bit of a "doh!" moment on the icepacks.

My British/ Italian friend has just confirmed that:
No Liquids (security)
No Gels (i.e. Branston pickle, mango chutney etc - security)
No Flowers/Seeds/Nuts or Fauna ( Because the UK is an Island and has to be protected against other countries diseases/insects )
No uncooked meat ( Foot and Mouth)
Cooked meat OK - Italian sausages, ham etc OK as the meat is cured.

She worked for the Ministry of Agriculture so I assume she knows what she's talking about -she was HORRIFIED when I wanted to bring back a walnut (yes singular) from our trees for my husband when we first bought the house)

Can't wait - but she said it is really cold at night - so as a true Scot - i'll just take T shirts - should be fine.....

You can bring back all sorts of things as hand luggage. Once we brought back a young but 2 metre high olive tree. They made us fold it over twice but it survived the trip in the luggage rack and has been in our garden for about 3 or 4 years.

For those in Italy with a craving for Branston Pickle, our local Lidl is having a "British week" starting this Thursday. Presume it will be the same all over Italy. Not Branston, but they do have sweet pickle, mint sauce, and scampi among the delights on offer.

There's all sorts of restrictions to bringing stuff into the UK - to do with farm / food hygiene not airport security. Honey is not allowed due to some virus (harmless to humans) carried in honey which could damage honey industry. Raw meats etc not allowed but probably not going to get caught until Uk brings in sniffer dogs like they have in US (one went mad over our bag which had had a banana in which I mashed on the plane for our 8mth old son)

Packets of Seeds both flowers and vegetables, can be purchased in Italy and taken to the UK. Never ever known anyone that has been stopped and never read any airport signs in UK saying that it was not allowed? Things have gotten to be very strict so perhaps the Autumn I took a basket of freshly picked Porcini mushrooms from Ancona to Stansted, would no longer be permitted....At that time I was merely worried that the security staff would fancy them and confiscate them!

I thought one could bring in virtually anything from within the EEC whereas outside the EEC there was a great restriction on meats, dairy, etc? Anyone elaborate?

Obviously within handluggage the liquid rule applies regardless of where you are travelling from.

I think the same, Flyingpigs, the only thing is that meat or fresh products should be vacuum packed for hygiene reasons.
As for liquids, we must all follow the security rules.

I noticed when we few back from Cagliari(Sardinia) they have a ban on all pig related products be they cooked or uncooked leaving the country.

It is normal to have some restrictions on circulation of certain foods placed if there is any disease/epidemy outbreak. Better to check first what is allowed.