Food items allowed into Mexico?

What food items are allowed in mexico? Hotdogs? eggs? cheese?

Rcam12 said:

What food items are allowed in mexico? Hotdogs? eggs? cheese?

Click to expand...

Anything you can fit in your suitcase! Some people freeze food and put it in a box and check it with their luggage. I'd rather eat at one of the many restaurants though.

Phil

philemer said:

Anything you can fit in your suitcase! Some people freeze food and put it in a box and check it with their luggage. I'd rather eat at one of the many restaurants though.

Phil

Click to expand...

That is not true. Many food items are restricted. The Mexican customs would not allow us to take in some cheese we had with us.

John Cummings said:

That is not true. Many food items are restricted. The Mexican customs would not allow us to take in some cheese we had with us.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification John. My answer above was based on info from numerous friends who have traveled to MX.

Do they look through your checked luggage or just ask if you have anything to declare (honor system)?

Phil

Cabo

In Cabo when you arrive they scan your luggage before you exit the airport.

Why take food they have a Costco

philemer said:

Thanks for the clarification John. My answer above was based on info from numerous friends who have traveled to MX.

Do they look through your checked luggage or just ask if you have anything to declare (honor system)?

Phil

Click to expand...

food in Cancun

The WalMart in Cancun has a wonderful selection (and presumably there are grocery stores elsewhere as well), and then you don't have to worry about spoilage in your luggage. And what if the airline loses your luggage and you don't get it for a few weeks - yeeechhhhh!

philemer said:

Thanks for the clarification John. My answer above was based on info from numerous friends who have traveled to MX.

Do they look through your checked luggage or just ask if you have anything to declare (honor system)?

Phil

Click to expand...

Mexican Customs randomly selects travellers for luggage inspection.

The random selection occurs as follows: When you get to the customs station you are directed to press a button. When you do so a colored light on what looks like a good-old-fashioned traffic light activates. Green means go and enjoy yourself, red means have your bags thoroughly dismantled and inspected.

I have been in Mexico perhaps 40 times and have never gotten a red light - just lucky I guess. But I have seen many other people get stopped.

Chris

Food In Mexico

On our last trip, the pilot came on the radio as we were approaching and told everyone no food was allowed. We had some trail mix with peanuts and candy and things like that and the flight attendant told us not to take it off the plane. We could get in trouble. That was Frontier airlines. Not sure how much they know but that is what they told us so we dropped it in the garbage on the way off the plane

Food

We do bring some nonperishables like granola bars and instant oatmeal. A friend of ours brings a HUGE suitcase full of bottled water from California, which she says is much cheaper than buying it in Cancun. One summer we met a woman who traveled with 2 bathing suits, 2 tops, 2 shorts, undies, and a big wheeled cooler of food for the week - she toted it to the pool each day and she and the kids saved a lot of money.

I've never known of a problem with customs. However, I still wouldn't try to bring perishables like meats, cheese, or veggies.

Our first visit to Mexico was in April over Easter week. We went to Puerto Vallarta. We hit the button and got red. All of our luggage was inspected including a suitcase full of food. We had pancake mix, oatmeal, microwave popcorn, mac & cheese and many kinds of snacks for the kids. The customs agent didn't even blink when she saw all the stuff. But, we didn't have any meat or cheese.

We don't take much food, but do take coffee, nuts, M&M's, raisins, and some other snacks. Once we took these in a large rolling cooler, and were asked what we had in it. We told the agent, and he just told us that it had to be in the original unopened packages, so we make our "trail mix" when we get there. We like to go out to eat on vacation. We just go to Walmart or Mega to get breakfast items.

Frontier also told us that we could not take opened fruit or snacks through customs. The flight attendant made one last pass for those items before we landed.

philemer said:

Thanks for the clarification John. My answer above was based on info from numerous friends who have traveled to MX.

Do they look through your checked luggage or just ask if you have anything to declare (honor system)?

Phil

Click to expand...

They typically use a green/red light system. If you get the green light you pass through and if you get the red, they will check your luggage. However, the last time we went through in Puerto Vallarta, they checked everybody regardless of the light. They inspected everything from checked luggage to hand carried items. My wife had a block of cheese that they took away from us. Normally, we do not take any food as we always eat out except for snacks that we buy locally.

A couple of years ago we had been told that we could take meat as long as it was vacuum sealed and with a Canada government approval mark on the label. (I assume there is a US equivalent). We took 3 steaks and a few chicken breasts for my daughter, who follows a kosher diet. We also had some kosher dairy products for her.

We got the green light, but customs stopped us to look through the cooler-on-wheels. In broken English they said something about "mad cow" (disease), and confiscated the steak and chicken, but allowed us to take the dairy items. They were polite and seemed apologetic.

Our driver, upon hearing the story joked that "the customs guy was probably on the phone to his wife to get the sauce ready for the steaks before you left the airport!"

We don't take meat anymore - and I understand they will confiscate dairy products now. So my daughter basically goes vegetarian when in Cancun, which really doesn't bother her too much at all. The veggie burgers at the Sands are pretty good!