Tomatoes on flight
 

I want to bring some tomatoes from my garden to my daughter in California when I fly there from Oregon. Will this be a problem going through security?

You should have no problem...taking food is fine.

I am not so sure you can bring fruit and vegetables into CA. Not to do with airlines--has to do with agriculture--or used to.

There's food, and then there's an agricultural product. It looks like tomatoes from Oregon are OK:

https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/pe/ext...rders_faq.html

U -- They would be inspected -- but most likely allowed in. But we grow more tomatoes in CA than they do in Oregon - she probably can get better tomatoes at her local farmers' market.

Home grown--probably better than CA!!

>>probably better than CA!!<<

Not at local farmers markets (most every town has several) . . . lots of choices and actually ripe.

I grow great tomatoes -- but when none are ready to pick -- the ones I pick up from the saturday morning market are just as good. Including the many heirloom varieties.

Plus if they are ripe what condition will they be after going through two airports and a flight.

A tomato war, what fun.

The Produce Police in California are brutal. Tried to bring some Ranier cherries from Washington into California - just to eat. This was some years ago, but the Produce Police were not pleasant - although I realize just doing their job.

What's a mother to do to show daughter some love from her garden!! I've taken peaches plenty of times--it's worth it! ;p)

Yes, Gretchen, you are breaking the law. As a California farmer, I have strong objections to visitors risking our agriculture to invasive pests.

https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/factsh...gies_to_CA.pdf

I have to agree about the fruit. What a mother should do is NOT go around the CA agriculture rules; show some respect for our farming industries. It may seem like a game to you, but we take it very seriously.

I NEVER said to break the law and I was the one who brought up the possibility of it not being allowed. I thought someone posted a link saying it is OK. If you can't, DON"t do it--the country's food supply could be at risk--just like in Florida.
Sorry if it SEEMED like I said, do it anyway--I didn't. Follow the rules.

I remember a number of years ago when we had the fruit fly infestation which I seem to recall was caused by peaches or some other stone fruit someone brought in from out of state.

Let's build a wall. A huge wall. And get Washington and Oregon to pay for it.

I don't know why someone thinks that link says tomatoes from Oregon are okay, it just says the border agents will inspect all fruits, vegetables, etc. I sure didn't see anything on it saying tomatoes are okay are fruits/vegetables from Oregon are okay.

I didn't know about these rules and had just a couple houseplants in my car when driving across the border, and they confiscated them. They had no pests that I was aware of, it seemed just routine to me that they didn't allow anything like that in.

I based my comment on a PDF I wasn't able to link, but MichelleY linked it above.

In my experience, they won't let any kind of produce into California no matter where you say it's from. And I agree, if they are truly ripe tomatoes they wouldn't survive the flight anyway.

You could take them if you canned them first ;-)

There are quarantines on some fruits and vegetables into California because of the concern of introducing pests into the area. I would call or check on line with the California Dept of Agriculture.

It doesn't matter if farmers markets tomatoes are better, when you have your own home grown tomatoes it is nice to share them with others -- otherwise if you have a lot of them and you have a bumper crop and they don't get eaten they can go to waste.