Hello all. I am hoping to bring some French butter home with me. I’m traveling from Paris to London on the Eurostar and then flying home to the United States the next day. It seems there are new restrictions on bringing butter back from the EU. Is that true? I would hate to buy it and then have to throw it away while going through customs. I only want to buy a package or two. My trip is in 8 days.
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
9158 posts
I poised this question in my browser search window "Can I bring French butter into the UK?" and the AI generated response is below.
"No, you are generally not allowed to bring French butter into the UK from the EU. The UK has implemented new regulations prohibiting the import of most meat and dairy products from EU countries, including butter, for personal use. "
Posted by
119 posts
I'm not sure but it definitely doesn't seem worth the hassle. You can buy fancy butter in America.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
I felt like it would be a fun souvenir but it would be so disappointing to have it be confiscated. Maybe I will look for it here.
Posted by
Virginia
965 posts
Posted by
Bristol, UK
1635 posts
Butter won’t travel well anyway. It’ll melt!
Posted by
Arctophilia, Northamptonshire, England
34828 posts
no - the rules have changed last week in an attempt to keep out Foot and Mouth Disease which is on the continent.
The last time we had it in 2007 there was absolute carnage with thousands of herds and flocks being destroyed.
Please do your bit to help us.
No meat, no dairy, at all, into the UK from Europe except by highly regulated and inspected importers.
Thanks for your help.
Posted by
Warrington, England
115 posts
You could buy some butter in the UK, ours is better anyway.
Posted by
Surrey, UK
222 posts
The ban is on individual importation.
Commercially imported products are still available, so you could look in a decent supermarket for a French brand.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thank you all for your replies! I definitely do not want to cause any harm to UK agriculture so I will find other fun souvenirs to bring home.
Posted by
London
305 posts
Just to confirm what everyone else has said here- I recently came back to London on the Eurostar from Amsterdam via Brussels, and there were extra UK border staff at Brussels-Midi warning everyone not to bring in dairy or meat products. I was told the fine is £5k if you are caught with any, so definitely don't risk it. The new rules were only brought in about a week ago.
Posted by
Portsmouth
5637 posts
You can buy good French butter in the UK alternatively there is some excellent British butter particularly from the West Country.