FOOD AGRICULTURAL

Meat Products

HIGH RISK

VERIFIED · 2026-05-13REGULATION TIGHTENINGReport a correction

2allowed

157restricted

8prohibited

167 rules across 82 countries

ALSO KNOWN ASbeef jerkysalamicured meatspork productsprocessed meatdried meat

Can I take Meat Products across a border? Yes in many places, with conditions. Of the 167 country-rules we've indexed for Meat Products, 2 are allowed (often with limits), 157 are restricted (permit, declaration, or quantity cap), and 8 are prohibited outright. Customs rules depend on the destination, the purpose (travelling, posting, importing personally, or importing commercially), and the quantity.

Meat products encompass fresh, frozen, cured, dried, and processed meats including beef, pork, chicken, lamb, and game. International customs authorities treat meat with high scrutiny due to the risk of transmitting animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever, and avian influenza. The stakes for agricultural authorities are enormous — a single infected piece of meat introduced into a disease-free country can trigger an outbreak that costs billions of dollars and requires mass culling of livestock. This is why countries like Australia, New Zealand, and the United States maintain some of the world's strictest biosecurity rules regarding meat. The risk is not only from fresh meat but from any product containing meat-derived ingredients, including jerky, cured sausages, salami, prosciutto, vacuum-sealed deli meats, and cooked ready-to-eat products. Even commercially produced, vacuum-sealed, shelf-stable products are subject to confiscation at biosecurity borders if they originate from countries with different animal disease status. Australia's Border Force regularly confiscates salami and prosciutto from European travelers who assume that vacuum-sealing or cooking renders a product safe for import. The EU has a tiered system that permits meat imports from countries that have been assessed as meeting EU food safety and animal health standards, but this approval process is lengthy and most countries outside the EU and a handful of others do not qualify. Homemade and market-purchased meat products face the greatest risk at any border worldwide.

WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO?

Carry meat products in my luggage

67 country rules for personal travel

Send meat products by post

50 country rules for international parcels

Import meat products commercially

50 country rules for imports

Common mistakes with Meat Products

Assuming the rules at the origin apply at the destination — they don't. The destination customs authority is the binding rule.
Travelling and posting are treated differently: an item you can carry may be prohibited by post (and vice versa).
Personal vs commercial intent: above a quantity threshold, customs may treat your shipment as commercial regardless of intent.
Undervaluing on the customs declaration to avoid duty — treated as fraud in most jurisdictions.
Vague item descriptions on CN22/CN23 — biggest single cause of postal customs holds.
Bringing meat or dairy from outside an approved zone — usually blocked on biosecurity grounds regardless of quantity.
Missing required certificates (phytosanitary, veterinary, CITES, prescription, product compliance).

Always verify against the destination's customs authority before acting. Not legal advice.

HS codes

0201 — Meat of bovine animals, fresh or chilled
0203 — Meat of swine, fresh, chilled or frozen
1602 — Other prepared or preserved meat, meat offal or blood

Regulatory trend

https://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/animal-health/legislation/animal-health-law_en — EU Animal Health Law 2021 expanded controls

Names in other languages

es: productos cárnicos, carne, embutidos
fr: produits carnés, viande, charcuterie
de: Fleischerzeugnisse, Fleisch, Wurstwaren
zh: 肉制品, 肉类, 加工肉
ja: 肉製品, 食肉加工品, 肉類

General notes

Meat imports are among the most commonly seized items at international borders. Australia, New Zealand, and the United States prohibit most fresh, dried, and processed meat from being brought in by travelers due to biosecurity concerns. The EU restricts meat from outside the bloc except from approved third countries with equivalent food safety standards. Commercially produced and sealed meat products sometimes receive different treatment from homemade or market-purchased products. Even vacuum-sealed, commercially produced cured meats like prosciutto are seized at Australian and US borders. Declaring meat products is essential as failure to declare and biosecurity violations result in fines.