My wife and I are traveling in Tuscany between Christmas and New Years, and would like to bring home treats from the local butcher shops. Any tips on how to have perishables packaged to get home through US customs?

I am almost certain you cannot bring meat products into the US, 64driver. But check out our governments webssite for what is and what is not allowed.

Meat products are subject to forfeiture and strictly enforced by the "beagles" which sniff incoming passengers. No sausage, proscuitto etc. Cheeses in vacuum packaging will pass but not soft fresh ones. Dried porcini mushrooms and pastas work along with olive oil in your checked luggage but pack carefully.

We're returning to resupply in two days--can't wait! Paul

Nothing from the butcher shops will get through the AG people except possibly dried, cured meats.

You are not allowed to bring raw meat into the US at all. If you have something that has been vacuum packed (ham?) or cured - you MAY be allowed to - I'm not sure.

But raw meat is definitely banned - as are fruits and vegtables.

Separately - can;t see how you could possibly do this with any confidence it wouldn;t go bad.

Finally - what's the matter with the meat at your local butcher? They should be able to provide anything you want.

hi 64,

Meats are a big "no no". Even vacuum packed.

I bring back dried Porcini mushrooms.

You can also bring back cured cheeses with no live bacteria. You might also consider an Italian Christmas cake, Panettone.

Yes, aged cheeses are a good bet and easy to bring back--look for the local aged pecorinos.

You might want to bring along some aluminum foil and zip loc bags.

Other items I've brought home from Tuscany over the years include dried beans and lentils; dried farro; balsamic vinegars and olive oils (Cappezzana is a personal favorite--this time of the year look for the "new oil"); vin santo; dried porcini; jams and preserves. If you are a cook, you might find fennel pollen from the region to be a good buy as well, along with some of the local artisan chocolates such as Amadei. I also bring canned tuna, although this is not Tuscan!

Also, one of my favorite dried pastas comes from Tuscany--the brand is Martelli and it is packaged in bright yellow bags and made near Pisa. The 500 gram bags sell for $8 here in New York.

You could also bring back speciality pastas such as the pici of the area around Montepulciano.

To my knowledge, whether or not an item is vacuum packed bears no relevance as far as USDA regs are concerned.

There has been a lot of discussion of this subject here..you might find more info with a search. If you come from a city with Italian food stores, I would caution you to check prices before you leave in order to determine which items are good buys in Tuscany.

And don't think that fresh or cured meat purchased at the duty free shops at the airport before you head home will pass inspection. My friend's prepackaged speck purchased at FCO/Rome was taken away at U.S. Customs. Just because it is sold at the duty free shops doesn't mean you can bring it home.

I've had 200 dollars worth of CANNED foie gras confiscated, No way would I try to bring any kind of meat back from anywhere!

Lots of other food items you can pick up but skip the meat!

You can bring back grappa, BTW! IF you can find a bottle of the really good stuff that doesn't have one of those skinny necks that would break in transit.

Thanks to all, that checks out with the Dept. of Agriculture site as well. We have successfully transported hard cheeses, olive oil, and wine from Italy before, never tried meat. Unfortunately, once you cook with the pancetta and salumi from the butcher shop in Greve it's hard to go back.

My friend had all of her vacuum packed cured meat and the cheeses confiscated at customs. It's an expensive gamble.

I didn't have problems with canned foie gras. This is with me checking the box for food on the customs form, and then sent to the Agricultural section at customs for search. They were fine with the canned foie gras.

I was successfully able to bring back jarred pork/duck based pate from Corsica in Sept. I was told that nothing with beef would be allowed, but that pork was fine. We went through the whole USDA search and they let us go with our pate.

in 2006 we got home with a wild boar - cinghale salami in our bag and hard cheese vacuum packed as well as olive oil.

in 2008 we purchased wild boar cinghale salami again, this time in Rome/FCO duty free and it was confiscated at JFK. The customs guy tried to tell me it was b/c of "mad cow" disease which I tried to fight as obviously it wasn't cow. But I didn't get my way. I spoke later to an owner of a specialty foods store who said I should have been able to bring it in as it was not fresh and it was not cow, but I still don't know! olive oil again was no problem.

I also have been able to bring in canned foie gras. I declared it and was sent to the x-ray machines at customs just to see if the cans contained beef. Duck and goose foie gras was OK.

I bring tinned foie gras back all the time. The rule about that has changed back and forth over the years, but as far as I know now, as long as it has a commercial label on it, it can pass the Ag people. If you are challenged, you can stand your ground and ask them to look it up in the tome they have that carries all the regs. Just know ahead of time what the pertinent regs are. The only time I had problems was way back when when I didn't know the rules and tried to bring in jars of goose fat and my neighbor's pâté de foie gras in unlabeled tins.

StCirq made an excellent point about the labels. The Agricultural person was only interested in checking the label on the canned foie gras. So make sure it has an authentic label and denotes the content as foie gras.

And be SURE to declare it. That's half the battle. You will then have to go through the Ag line, but they will be likely to waive you on through.