customs

Lisa, I'm not overly familiar with U.S. laws, but my understanding is that you should have no problems with the Chocolate. Whether the Cheese is acceptable may depend on what type it is, and whether it's unpasteurized or pasteurized. You may find it helpful to have a look at This Website. One other point to mention. As this is your first trip to Europe, I'd recommend reading the Guidebook Europe Through The Back Door as it provides a LOT of good information on "how" to travel well in Europe. The city and country Guidebooks have good information on Hotels, Restaurants, Sightseeing, etc. Happy travels!

I believe you can bring in chocolate if it is properly processed, commerical, etc. You can NOT bring in cheese. From Italy you can bring wines, but a limited amount, and unless you want it just because you were in the particular area, you can get it easier in the states than lugging it back. If you have it shipped, be sure you can receive it in your state.

Chocolate? Absolutely. Cheese? Almost certainly not.

Cheese is OK with just a very few exceptions. Just go to the website referred to by Ken for details.

Semi-soft and hard cheese like cheddar or swiss is perfectly fine to bring into the US. Liquid cheese like ricotta is a not permitted.

I brought cheese home from Spain. However, the meat was confiscated - jamon and salami.

My friend came back from CH this past Sunday,and he brought back 10 lbs. of cheese for me.Not a problem at all. My wife and I always bring back 20 lbs.or so of cheese when we visit family there. We're going to Tuscany and Ch over Easter, and we'll bring our usual empty duffel bag and load it up with my familiy's requests for the different varieties of cheeses.
Can't wait!!

Probably 99% of the stuff sold by Duty Free shops is okay to bring into the US. There are exceptions here and there like flower seeds sold in Schipol Airport, Cuban cigars I've spotted at Heathrow, all the pharmaceuticals sold at the pharmacy in the Mexico City Airport (they don't require prescriptions).

The absolute no is meats, fresh fruit and unauthorized seeds/bulbs. Coming back into the USA during the flight you watch a brief movie on filling out the green customs form. You answer questions and one is any food products? You need to check yes and list the items. Coming through Ohare they look at the form after you get your luggage, ( and pass the border control working beagle dog sniffs) and officers will ask again for the items. Sometimes they ask you to go to a seperate area and will check your contents. I always bring back cheese I have bought at the Saturday Utrecht Netherlands market, Gouda & Jong Belegen which they shrink wrap for me to travel. Candy never a problem. Other food items like coffee & cookies no problem. FYI; Hawaii has restrictions back to the mainland too.

There is a separate customs check for agricultural products and such. We brought bulbs back on our first trip to Amsterdam. They have packages that are sealed and stamped directly for your personal import (costlier!), and customs looks for that seal/label. When we brought them in, there was no issue and they were accepting this on our word - except that the agent had a trainee with him, and asked if we could pull the bags out simply so the trainee could actually see what this looked like.