Sending Food to the USA

flea72

i want to send a couple of packets of sweets and crisps to the USA, but im not sure what customs forms i need to use. according to the royal mail website i need to declare the food for import to the US before i send it, but all the forms they give you to download, only relate to business' sending food, and the info on the US' FDA website, makes very little sense to me.

any ideas on what i should be doing?

tia Flea

neilwoods

Like the royal mail site says, if it is homemade or manufactured and is declared as a personal gift then you just need the standard cutoms form, prob cn22. But it must be clearly marked otherwise may be destroyed by customs.

have a got a shortage on food in the us now

martindow

Imports of food to the USA require pre authorisation on the FDA web site and the reference number needs obtained to be written on the back of the packet next to the customs declaration. It is likely to be returned without the number.

It is a complete nightmare and unless you've got lots of time to wade through web site to find the correct categories do this I'd not bother. We used to sell Chinese herbs and stopped offering them to the USA when these rules were introduced. It is supposedly an anti terrorist measure but seems more like trade protection to me.

A few things are excepted like home baked cakes.

whistler-alison

Hi - I send shop bought sweets and stuff to my friend all the time in the USA with no problems. Just fill out the customs slip and list the items (ie confectionery - I don't list the individual items) and their value on there. I also write across the envelope "Unsolicited gift - value under $50". Here's the link to the customs form:

ftp://ftp.royalmail.com/Downloads/public/ctf/rm/cn22.pdf

Gingernutmeg

I've often sent food items over to the USA - that's a peril of introducing Americans to Jaffa Cakes! As long as they are a manufactured (as opposed to homemade) and properly packaged item then there should be no problem. I jst filled in the label on the front to say 'confectionary' and 'biscuits' and it's been absolutely fine. The only time I ever had a problem was when I tried to send a large wodge of home-made fruit cake. I sealed it all up but if must have been caught somehow and I got the lid of the parcel mailed back to me a few months later

nightswimmer

Gingernutmeg wrote:

I've often sent food items over to the USA - that's a peril of introducing Americans to Jaffa Cakes! As long as they are a manufactured (as opposed to homemade) and properly packaged item then there should be no problem. I jst filled in the label on the front to say 'confectionary' and 'biscuits' and it's been absolutely fine. The only time I ever had a problem was when I tried to send a large wodge of home-made fruit cake. I sealed it all up but if must have been caught somehow and I got the lid of the parcel mailed back to me a few months later

Homemade is fine as well, so long as it is a gift. I have sent many homemade things to the US, including fruit cake.

(Unless this happened to you back when they first introduced the rules, which have since been relaxexd. )