Border Guide

Import Guide: Agricultural Items For Personal Use — Mexican Land Border

Are you crossing into the United States from Mexico? Are you carrying any meats, fruits, vegetables, living plant material, soil, live animals, or plant and animal products? If so, you may unknowingly be carrying plant pests or animal diseases as well—which could pose a threat to U.S. food crops and livestock.

You must declare any items that you bring with you in your baggage, hand luggage, or vehicle to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the time of your entry into the United States. Failure to declare any items—regardless of origin—may cause travel delays and result in spot fines of up to $1,000.

The following types of meats and animal products are allowed for import: canned shelf-stable pork, cooked pork skins (cracklings), beef, cooked poultry, and boiled or cooked eggs.

The following is a partial list of personal quantities of fruits, vegetables, and plant products that are allowed from Mexico, after they have passed inspection and have been found free of any pests or diseases:

• Aloe vera leaves
• Avocados—without seeds (no avocados are admitted into California)
• Bananas
• Berries (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries)
• Cabbage
• Corn and corn smut galls
• Dates
• Garlic
• Grapes
• Herbs (cilantro, mint, rosemary, sage, watercress)
• Jicama
• Lemons, Persian limes, and sour limes—all lemons/ limes must be washed; no leaves or stems
• Lettuce and spinach
• Melons (cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon)
• Nuts (acorns, almonds, cocoa beans, chestnuts, coconuts [without husks or milk] peanuts, pecans, piñón [pinenut], walnuts)
• Onions (including green onions and chives)
• Peppers (bell, chili, jalapeno peppers; manzano peppers are not allowed)
• Pineapples
• Potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes (cooked only)
• Prickly pears (nopales pad or tuna fruit; pitaya are not allowed)
• Sugarcane “chews"—peeled without nodes
• Tamarind bean pods
• Tomatoes and tomatillos

This list of admissible food products is subject to change. For more information or for a complete list, please visit APHIS' online fruits and vegetables manual at www.aphis.usda.gov/ favir. Under the “Country” search, type “Mexico.”

Live Plants and Seeds: Plants and seeds imported for propagation require a phytosanitary certificate from the Government of Mexico. The import of any soil is prohibited.

Live Birds: To import pet or wild/game birds, contact the local CBP office in advance. Please visit www.cbp.gov to obtain contact information for local offices. All imported birds, including chickens, are subject to quarantine in a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) facility.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

If you are coming into Mexico from United States, there are some items that are not allowed:

• Firearms
• Ammunition

Plants

• Earth or soil.
• Vessels or articles with content of vegetable or unknown origin. The tourist entry of the products listed below is prohibited if the importer does not meet the requirements described in the following link. https://sistemasssl.senasica.gob.mx/mcrfi/
• Propagative material (seeds, bulbs, cuttings, buds, cuttings, etc.)
• Flowers, plants, seedlings In Vitro, vegetables and fresh fruits.
• Grains (corn, beans, rice, quinoa, wheat, sesame, sunflower, beans, lentils, etc.)
• Coffee and green tobacco.
• Fresh chestnuts.

Animal Products

• Balanced food for any species (except for dogs and cats).
• Balanced food for dogs and cats with beef, sheep and goats.
• Fresh meat of any kind.
• Containers with animals, animal remains (blood, feathers, bones, offal, others).
• Any animal species (except cats and dogs) regulated.
• Clothing with animal bones, skin and feathers, carved or polished horn or bone handicrafts, when presented with blood or any other propagative material of diseases or pests. Entry is allowed when the presence of the aforementioned materials is discarded and it is verified that it is a product whose characteristics do not represent a health risk.
• Clothing and accessories for bullfighters, charrería and bull riding, when it presents blood or remains of animal tissues; Their entry is allowed when they are completely clean and disinfected and after prophylactic treatment at the point of entry.
• Homemade or artisan products are not allowed.
• Free-range chicken. Products of pig origin and their derivatives originating in countries with the presence of African Swine Fever, such as: ham, sausages, bacon, pork rinds, sweets with pork, raw pork, dried meat, smoked cutlets , precooked sausages, pasta with pork, BBQ ribs, pork flour, lard, instant soup with pork, bacon toothpaste, salami, mortadella, sandwich with ham, chorizo, etc.
• Raw leather products.
• Pharmaceutical, chemical and biological products for animal use or consumption, or those that are designated for therapeutic or research purposes.
• Fresh cheeses.
• Sandwiches, sandwiches, cakes, sandwiches, hamburgers, pizzas, etc., with meat and dairy content without full packaging, or sanitary seal from the competent authority.
• Hunting trophies (mounted, fresh, salty, others).
• Vessels or articles with content of animal, vegetable or unknown origin.

Products from the sea

• Live, raw and dried crustaceans.
• Aquaculture products (except fillets and fish for consumption).
• Fishes.
• Live turtles.
• Regulated products of aquatic origin, in poor condition, in decomposition or with the presence of larvae or insects.