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As an European citizen living in Canada, I am going to fly from Montreal (YUL) to the USA (SFO).

I was planning to bring a sandwich (with tomato, lettuce...) and some fruit to eat on the plane.

When flying to the US from Europe, this is fine since everything has been eaten when clearing the customs on arrival.

However, it seems that there will be a US customs preclearance at YUL, and bringing fruits and vegetables in the US from Canada is a complicated matter.

Will these food items be an issue during the preclearance ?

Ari Brodsky
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Klaus
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3 Answers3

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When you are asked (on a piece of paper or on a screen) if you have any food, fruit/veg, plants or their parts, say yes. Same for meat. When you reach the person, you will be asked in a very bored voice "What food do you have?" (I know because I ticked yes to that after having visited a farm the previous day, and that's what I was asked, leading to a lot of confusion.)

The officer will then make a decision and either take your food or let it through. Beef is generally taken including roast beef sandwiches and beef jerky. But not all food will be taken. On another occasion there were a whole pile of apples abandoned just before the pre-clearance and I asked about it. "I don't have an apple," I told the officer, "but are they banned?" "Nope." [this was years ago and they might be now, not the point.] "So why are there all those apples out there?" "People think they are banned and ditch them. They don't come in here and ask me."

If you fail to declare food, especially meat, when entering either Canada or the US, you could be fined hundreds of dollars. Declare it. Alternatively, buy yourself some cleared and legal food in the airport after pre-clearance.

Kate Gregory
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All food must be declared. It is that simple, meaning, it's not at all complicated.

CBP or the Dept. of Agriculture are the ones who make the decision, not you. :(

If the officer allows your sandwich, you're good to go. It doesn't matter that it's a sandwich or whole tomatoes, a loaf of bread and a pack of cheese. You must declare it.

CBP Info - Food - General Food

DTRT
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So you have a sandwich containing a few vegetable like lettuce, tomatoes etc. As a general advisory, you can consult this link for "Fruit and Vegetable Import Advisory".

Will it be an issue? No, it won't be an issue but you should definitely declare that you have food. It is highly likely that the customs officer will let you go after asking a few standard questions e.g. do you have meat? if yes is it raw or cooked? etc.

Worst case situation is that they will "confiscate" your sandwich and throw it away and you can go on to your flight.

PS: It does seem that there are no issues in bringing tomatoes and the "above-ground parts" of lettuce.

Newton
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