USDA does not allow travelers to bring back most cattle, swine, sheep or goat meat or meat products from countries affected with certain serious livestock diseases:
- Foot-and-mouth disease
- Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)
- Swine vesicular disease
- Classical swine fever
- African swine fever
To find out a country’s status for these diseases, visit Animal Health Status of Regions.
Travelers may bring back fresh (chilled or frozen), cooked, cured or dried meat from countries without these diseases if they have official documentation to prove the product’s country of origin. Any of the following items are considered official documentation:
- Package label
- Written documentation
- Proof of travel (passport or travel itinerary)
- Origin of flight
- Receipt of sale
- CBP document (based on the officer’s interview of the traveler)
- A meat inspection certificate
- Certificate of origin
Travelers may bring back boneless meat in commercially packaged, labeled, and contained in unopened hermetically sealed containers or packages that are cooked by a commercial method after such packing to produce articles that are shelf-stable without refrigeration.
Travelers may not bring back more than 50 pounds of an item. Shipments larger than 50 pounds are considered commercial shipments and must meet additional requirements through USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. Contact them at 202-720-9904 or www.fsis.usda.gov.
Cured hams (prosciutto, Serrano ham, Iberian ham) and salami from areas within France, Germany, Italy and Spain maynot be brought into the United States by travelers. These items may only enter in commercial shipments because there are special restrictions that require additional certification and documentation.
