Want to bring in frozen meat and roasted garlic and shallots

not sure what your question is?? we always take a large cooler of frozen foods to the villas we go to. no problems as long as everything is frozen. tsa often wants to open & check contents so i take a roll of duct tape and tsa tapes it after they look in. if foods are frozen solid and packed tightly you should not even need cold packs in the cooler.

Where are you coming from? If from mainland US you can bring in all the frozen meat you want. Not sure if there are any restrictions on meat and/or produce coming from a non-US country.

If coming from US and doing checked luggage pack all you want. Your only limitation is the baggage allowance/weight restrictions imposed by your airline. If you exceed the specified weight restrictions you may be subject to excess baggage fees.

If doing it by carry-on be sure your cooler meets the size restrictions imposed by your airline. Also, you can't use regular ice or "Blu-ice gel packs" in your carry-on as they are considered liquids or gels and are prohibited by the TSA and won't pass the security checkpoint. Finally, some airlines have restrictions and/or limitations on using dry ice in both carry-on and checked luggage. Hint - we've traveled with frozen meats often (usually by carry-on but sometimes as checked luggage) - if you fill your cooler fully, the meats will stay frozen for almost 24 hours so you don't really need any additional "ice".

As for the roasted garlic and shallots, no problem in checked luggage but if putting in your carry-on it will depend on the consistency of the finished product. If you mean "whole fresh" garlic & shallots then no problem. If it's a "paste" in a jar or other container the TSA could (most likely will) consider it to be a gel and therefore you are limited to the "3-1-1 rule" (i.e. 3 oz. bottles that fit in 1 Qt. size ziplock bag, 1 zip-lock bag per person).

"As for the roasted garlic and shallots, no problem in checked luggage but if putting in your carry-on it will depend on the consistency of the finished product. If you mean "whole fresh" garlic & shallots then no problem."

Most caribbean countries DO NOT ALLOW fresh vegetables and fruits. This may also be true for the US Virgin Islands, since it's not an import issue, more of an agriculture issue.

Roasted and Frozen would be ok, I doubt fresh or even roasted and bagged would pass inspection.

You can buy garlic and shallots in USVI, why would you need to bring it with you, and roasted at that??

Scubagirl - my comments were clearly based on a person traveling from the US to USVI. In that case you do not have to clear a Dept. of Agricultural checkpoint when leaving the Continental US since the flight is considered the same as any other domestic flight. You just go to the airport, get your boarding pass if you haven't already checked in on line, check any luggage (if you are doing so), proceed through the TSA checkpoint and get on the plane, ergo no one checks what's in your luggage except for the routine screening performed by the TSA and they don't care if you have fresh vegetables or not. Since there are no restrictions on taking fresh vegetables on domestic flights within the US OP can bring all they want (subject to the airline's luggage size/weight restrictions). Similarly, upon arrival in the USVI's OP would simple deplane, claim any checked luggage and proceed to their final destination - no customs, immigration or Dept. of Agricultural checkpoints to clear.

Now, if OP is traveling from a foreign country than there could very well be restrictions on fresh vegetables.

OP was, of course, asking about "roasted garlic and shallots" which we all agree are by definition not fresh and could be, depending on the consistency of the finished product, subject to TSA restriction on liquids & gels if in carry-on.

I agree with DebitNM in questioning why anyone would want to bring roasted garlic and shallots to the USVI's as you can buy all the fresh ones you want once "on island" and roast them to your hearts content. I know you can also buy jars of roasted garlic (not sure about roasted shallots) in the USVI's but after years of reading and responding to questions on this forum I've learned that some travelers can't seem to go on a vacation without some type of specialty comfort food and it's sometimes counterproductive to question why.