Dutch cheese and chocolate

As a general rule, hard cheeses are permitted; soft cheeses are not. Having said that customs agents can confiscate any type of food for any reason if there is some sort of agricultural alert in effect. You won't have any problems with chocolate; I'd estimate that about 95% of tourists are carrying it across the border.

Chocolate will be fine, but as far as I know all type of cheese will be confiscated, even if it's wrapped in plastic.

I am a cheese fanatic and havae carried it home successfully on numerous occasions. However, I suggest that you confine yourself to non-smelly types!!! Or pack it in your suitacse well-wrapped.

Funny story..once I was in the Customs area at Newark and an official with a DOG came up to me(hand carrying cheese, of course). I must have turned white!!! Luckily he was ony a drug sniffing dog!!! And I got through with my cheese!!! But I really
was nervous!!!

Last year, I brought in some smelly cheese in my carry-on and on the airport bus, everyone was complaining about the SMELL!!!! But the cheese (from
France) was delicious!!!

I am not sure all this is legal but it sure is good!

You aren't supposed to bring cheese into the US that isn't pasteurized. Many European cheesemakers think that ruins the cheese. I think many people have brought home cheese that doesn't comply with the rule. Customs doesn't check everyt item from everybody. I don't bring it back but I eat enough while I'm there to last awhile.

Chocolate is fine to bring back. Keep it in a cool place if possible. I tucked some chocolate into the side pocket of my cargo pants for a snack on the plane. What I had instead was a pocketful of melted goo. I'm not sure if it really melts easier than American chocolate but it seems that way.

Cheese in the U.S. must be pasteurized or aged at least 60 days ... at least this was the rule that I was told when I took a class on cheese at a culinary school. It could have changed. That is why you cannot find camembert, epoisses, and other similar cheeses that taste the same in the U.S. as they do in Europe. The versions sold in the U.S. are made with pasteurized rather than raw milk. An aged cheese like gouda would be fine to bring in from the Netherlands. I'm not sure if you need to have the cheese vacuum packed or not. You should check the USDA rules.

Chocolate is fine. Bring lots of it. I travelled regularly to Brussels for a while and always came home with a bag of Cote d'Or chokotoffs and a box of Belgian pralines. The chocolates in Belgium are 10 times better than those in the U.S. And there are so many different varieties. You just have to try as many as possible :)

When I declare "chocolate" on my customs form, I usually end up with agents joking about confiscating it and sharing it out amongst themselves.

I've only once had an actual problem at customs with chocolate: a pack of wine bottle-shaped, liqueur-filled chocs from England. Two agents had a long discussion about them -- I was in the early stages of a very bad cold and wasn't really listening -- but they eventually let me keep them. It was the "liqueur-filled" part that had them agitated. This was in the mid-90s, though, so it might not be a problem now.

I have brought back cheese from London, Holland, France & Belgium. I just went with a "don't ask don't tell" thing. I had no problems at all. Chocolate is no big deal. Also, you CAN bring flower bulbs back from Holland...they just have to have a special seal on them with the dates within a certain time frame. If you buy from a reputable dealer you will have no problem. (I bought mine at the flower market in Amsterdam). You just have to declare them at Customs and go through a special line where the customs officers inspect the seal & the dates to make sure all is in order. It was NO big deal. Speaking of Amsterdam and cheese, you MUST buy some Gouda at the cheese shop RS recommends in the Amsterdam walk. I can't remember the name of the place where it is but it's in a large building where there are lots of shops. Rick refers to her as the "Cheery cheese lady". The cheese is to DIE for...especially the farmers-style cheese. And it is all sealed up so there should be no prob