bringing food to Germany
 

When our new granddaughter arrives next month, we will be visiting Germany. My DIl has asked us to bring some food items she has trouble finding there. The US Customs website, of course, only addresses bringing things into the US. The German website I found didn't answer my questions.

Does anyone know if I can, in my checked luggage, bring things like hard cheese, rice vinegar, boxes of soup, and non-dairy sour cream?

Thanks!

The EU has virtually standardised rules on this, which you'll find in English at http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/ille...w/whatfood.htm

You can't import cheese from outside Europe in personal luggage. If you want boxes of soup, you're allowed to, as long as they don't contain any animal products. Rice vinegar's just fine.

I'm just curious, but why is your relative having trouble finding "boxes of soup" (or dried soup mix)??????

There are several brands available in any grocery store. Start with Knorr (with which you are surely familiar). It is a German company, and they started to sell dried soup mixes in 1873. Knorr is now owned by Uniliver (a Dutch conglomerate), and its mixes are sold around the world --- including Germany.

I'm just trying to save you some room in your luggage.

She could ask someone to take her to metro. Open from 6am to 10pm.
http://www.metro24.de/

It's rather difficult not to find the things she's looking for in there ;-)

Rice vinegar is also widely available in Europe, most supermarkets will have it, often in a special "Oriental foods" section. And hard cheeses are also widely available, and probably a lot better than any American cheese.
Even non dairy sour cream is available, though she may have to find a health food shop for that.
Soup has already been discussed.

Congratulations on your new granddaughter. I hop all goes well and you enjoy your time with her!

There are a lot of expat blogs online where just this theme is addressed. There is also Toytown, where your daughter can ask where her favorite food items can be bought in her town or city. Yes, there are a few items that are hard to find here or not at all, but it isn't very many. Baking powder, baking soda, & choc. chips are a few off the top of my head. Just about anything else is available, you just have to know where to go.

Choc chips I agree are impossible in normal shops. Baking powder is available here in Holland in the baking section of the supermarket. Here it is called Backin. I'm sure it is available in germany too. Baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) is available at a pharmacy.

Thank you, flanneruk, for that website; it is very helpful.

My DIL is very resourceful, and if she had been able to find those items, she wouldn't have asked me. They live on an AF base, and many American products are available there. The complication is that she and my son keep kosher, and some of those items with a hecksher are much harder to find, even in the US. They regularly go to Frankfurt or to Strasbourg, France, where there are kosher grocery stores.

It isn't dried soup mixes, but the boxes of ready made soup (I like the ones at Trader Joes) that she can't find. Kosher specialty vinegars are a challenge, and it is unlikely that a health food manufacturer, as they are often small companies, would pay for rabbinic supervision.

You should have askerd for koscher food in Germany. I'm sure they konw www.aviv.de, but there are many more options.

otoh, if you post that they're living on an AF base, the reaction is "go home" to the US. People don't want US troops any more over here.

Hope she's still safe anyway!

I would also much rather have them in the US than in Germany! I only posted about their being on an AF base after I got questions, rather than an answer to my question, which was about what foods I could legally bring from the US to Germany.

hetismij, thank you for your good wishes. We adore our three year old granddaughter, and can't wait to meet her sister!

I didn't ask about kosher food in Germany because my DIL is very knowledgeable about that.

Ok, so this is what you need to know

http://www.zoll.de/b0_zoll_und_steue...ren/index.html

No Milk, Milk products or meat, potatos, kaviar. That also means no cheese!

Cheezewiz and Velveeta should be OK to take into Germany then.

logos999, thanks very much for that website.

It says, "If meat, milk, and products manufactured from them are imported privately, these products must meet the same veterinary requirements as commercially imported consignments. This means that travellers who are carrying such goods are only allowed to enter Germany at certain entry points where a veterinary inspector is on hand. In addition, the products must be accompanied by official health certificates from the country of origin."

It seems like finding cheese with an official US health certificate and making sure we enter Germany where a veterinary inspector is on hand may make the cheese more trouble than it's worth!

Yes, you need to provide an official US health certificate for it, should you want to import a bar of kraft cheese.

Sounds reasonable.

Which leaves us with the question of why anyone would ever want to eat (never mind have imported) boxes of soup. (I know some people use them to make "dip" which is another thing I don't really get - unless made from real ingredients.)

I can't imagine how I would make dip from boxes of organic soups--we especially like carrot-ginger, roasted red pepper, and butternut squash. We think they're delicious, and, on nights that I don't get home from work until 7 PM, I love to have some in the cabinet so I can throw dinner together by heating one of those and defrosting some artisan bread.

Do you mean making dip by adding something like a packet of dried onion soup mix to a container of sour cream?

It is usually the case when shopping on base, that if you want certain products, the commissary will strive to get them for you. This would include kosher products. On the other hand, I have never had my suitcase checked when coming back to Germany. I have often brought stuff back with me and never given it a thought. This includes beef jerky, doughnuts, peanut butter, soup base, etc. I would pack your stuff, pick up your luggage and walk out to meet your new granddaughter.

I have never heard any Germans express the wish that the Americans leave. In fact, when they close a base down, it leaves hundreds of Germans jobless, and really hurts the economy of the small towns where many bases are located. There is usually a close relationship between the locals and the military, not animosity. Living overseas can be wonderful for military members if they take advantage of the travel opportunities, shop in the local stores, learn some language, and so on.

Enjoy your trip!

>>>I have never heard any Germans express the wish that the Americans leave. In fact, when they close a base down, it leaves hundreds of Germans jobless, and really hurts the economy of the small towns where many bases are located. There is usually a close relationship between the locals and the military, not animosity.<<<

Exactly. There are many intermarriages (including interracial).

>>>I have never had my suitcase checked when coming back to Germany. I have often brought stuff back with me and never given it a thought. This includes beef jerky, doughnuts, peanut butter, soup base, etc. I would pack your stuff, pick up your luggage and walk out to meet your new granddaughter.<<<

I can confirm that. Unlike U.S. customs, German customs does not inspect your baggage or search for food. Just bring it.

I regularly bring from the U.S. jerky, canned chile, chile sauce, baking mixes as well as other products. Only be careful with certain weeds.

Forget everything what other posters have written about health certificates etc. This applies only for commercial importers.

Importing milk or animal products into Germany from outside Europe is <b> illegal </b> for passengers. Full stop: end of story.

There's no legal way round this, except to set yourself up as a food importing company. It's <b> probably </b> unlikely you'll see your luggage being checked - butdon't delude yourself.

The lack of impertinent Customs or Agricultural officials at EU borders doesn't mean incoming bags aren't checked. In developed societies, we use modern technology to provide more efficient ways of tracking smugglers than letting armies of dunderheads hassle legitimate travellers.

Bring cheese in your bags and there's a high chance it'll trigger the alarms established to track jungle meat and drugs. Hundreds of drug mules every month are caught at Europe's airports because they were stupid enough to believe EU members don't check incoming luggage.