Food/treasures - bringing back home

Hi Linda. I brought back about 8 bottles of liqueurs back in my check-through luggage. (We split them between my & my husband's check-through bag & we put each bottle in a sock so that it wouldn't break.) I also brought back a small wheel of cheese in my check-through luggage. The cheese was vacuum packed so I don't know if that makes a difference but our bags were never opened for further investigation. We were not questioned about either of these items. Have a great trip.

thanks Sheron. I wonder if there is duty free at the Florence Airport. When I traveled to Costa Rica, I was able to buy a bottle or two there at the airport and the airlines organized the carry on.

Meat isn't allowed, not even if it is sealed in a vacuum packed bag.

Cheese and dried produce such as mushrooms are allowed if sealed in a vacuum packed bag.

Alcohol is allowed, I believe you get 1 liter duty free. I recommend loading up on limoncello as I've found it easier to find good Italian wine here in the U.S. than good limoncello.

I don't remember seeing a duty free shop in the Florence airport, which is really small, but I was in a hurry and not really looking. I did a quick google search and it appears that the airport does have a duty free shop.

Official govt. word on this subject:

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/highlights/travel_news/bring_it_home.xml

There is a really heated discussion about this on Chowhound -

Bottom line is meat is illegal - hard cheeses are ok - soft cheeses no.

I guess I'll bring some Pecorino and maybe dried mushrooms... and Limoncello back home. Thanks for all your suggestions.

Aged balsamic vinegar is incredibly good and always on my list to bring back (it sweetens as it ages), as well as parmesan cheese. They also make a great pairing for gifts.

yes, there is duty free at Florence's Amerigo Vespucci Airport

I always checked before - like the website listed below
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/highlights/travel_news/bring_it_home.xml

however - I could never find the specific answer to things like "canned meat from SOME countries..." which ones and how do i find out? Is FoixGras ok? its meat but its cooked and canned. I know vaccum packed cured meats should be safe but are best left over there. If it were in a can maybe its ok!? but who sells salami in a can!

Anyways - it would be great to know where that updated list is - had anyone tried to find out detailed answers from the customs?

just curious.

Be careful with what you buy at duty-free. Just because it is in the store, does not mean that it will pass US Customs. If you buy liquids at duty-free, they will get on your first flight, but if you are changing planes, they will not get through security. If your flight is direct to the US, you will be able to put any liquids into your checked bags when you claim them for Customs and then re-check.

Overall, the advice you are getting is accurate, avoid any meats (though there are some few canned forms allowed), avoid any fresh vegatables or fruit, but other than that, most everything else that is canned, bottled, or dried is allowed.

No, vacuum packing cured meats does not make them capable of making it through customs, despite what the seller of the meat may tell you. We had some very night boars-meat salami confiscated one year.

Thanks everyone for your replies and ideas. I guess the salami and any other meats I find in Italy will just have to be eaten there. I don't like taking chances with customs folks. I appreciated the info regarding the duty free and the idea that it might be okay for one leg of my journey but may not necessarily be the right choice considering I will have a stop or two. It will be interesting to see what wines I really will want to bring back home in my checked bag - protected with old socks and plastic bags. I'm really looking forward to my first trip to Italy.

We brought back a bottle of lemoncello, two bottles of wine, a large bottle of olive oil, 8 little bottles of flavored olive oil, several bags of pasta, some aged balsamic vinigar, WAY YUMMY! We also brought back a small salami, a small sausage of some kind and about 8 pounds of chocolate...we put all this in two convertable backpacks (they have a metal frame that converts them to rollbehind bags)....we put all this down on our customs card and nobody confiscated anything or questioned a thing. I had read the restrictions on meats, so I only bought the small sausages just in case they were confiscated. Eat your heart out while you're there..If I could have figured out how to bring back a gallon or two of gellato I would have!!!

I bought liquids at a duty free shop once before and it only worked because at my next layover I reveived my checked luggage to take it through customs again. So I was able to pack that bottle into the suitcase, take it through customs and check it back in. And THEN I went through security.

Just wanted to let all you limoncello lovers know you can make it at home. There are lots of recipes out there that takes weeks to make but the bottom line is that restaurants in Italy make their own in a week. All these posts sent me to the refrigerator to pour some to get me through my turkey prep. I'll be happy to forward the recipe after the holiday to anyone who would like it. It's very simple - soak lemon peels in grain alcohol (never vodka!) for about a week and then add a simple syrup and bottle. The difference in taste comes in the aging. Mine tastes like a little sip of Italy!

Becky: oh yea, definitely going to try to bring back some balsalmic vinegar and olive oil. I know once I arrive in Italy, it'll be hard to choose what bottles to bring & which ones to leave behind.

Teena: I am always about creating something delicious. Limoncello is probably one of those items I will just have to try.

An interest in an updated list was mentioned in a previous post, but unfortunately you may not find one. As an example, for cheese the same USDA rules that apply in the States, apply at customs, rather than an approved list of cheeses that are OK. Basically this means that cheeses aged less than 60 days must use pasturized milk, aged over 60, doesn't matter. At customs however, they do not have all info, can't tell if cheese was made from pasturized milk, so a basic rule of thumb is any fresh or soft cheeses are probably aged less than 60 days, so as a rule, they don't get in. Any firm or hard cheese pretty much has to be aged to get that hard, so it's OK. The most important point though, is that it is up to the agent (Customs or USDA) to make the call, and arguing or producing some evidence to the contrary usually has little effect. This means you are best playing it safe, or be willing to lose what you bring.

I brought back soft Pecorino cheese in September (Pecorino Fresco) which I was told was aged less than 60 days. The outside of the wheel was fairly firm so I guess Customs didn't question it. Guess I was lucky. It was incredibly delicious but somehow it didn't taste as good as it did when we were in Tuscany...gee, I wonder why!!! Happy travels.