What foods you can bring into Tasmania

[Orion]

Based on the following list I've been way too conservative about what foods to bring into Tasmania for bushwalking trips.

Nuts and cheese and meat? I thought those would be disallowed and always left them out of my luggage.
Eggs? Really?

Cats and horses??

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When travelling to Tasmania from ALL mainland States you may bring in the following goods:

Dried nuts
Processed foods including commercially dried, cooked and canned fruit and vegetables, hard frozen fruit and vegetables
Freeze dried camping foods
Meat for human/personal consumption including salami, hams and meat sticks
Canned fish
Tanned skins and hides (all) including antlers and horns
Cheese
Noodles, pasta, rice, bread, cereals and sauces
Tea coffee and biscuits
Poultry and poultry hatching eggs
Cats, horses and guinea pigs
Baby food
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http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/biosecurity/quarantine-tasmania/what-you-can-cant-bring-into-tasmania
.

[Orion]

Ah, phooey. I missed the fine print.

"IMPORTANT: This information relates to Tasmanian domestic travellers only. Each Australian State has different quarantine regulations so please check with each State individually."

So I'm still not sure what the rules are...

[dingelberry]

The hard frozen fruit and vegetables ?
Everytime I have flow into launceston they have a beagle looking for fruit.

[bumpingbill]

I think that "fine print" is saying that it only applies to tourists/residents/people. Ie, not commercial imports/exports. Or it's also saying that other states may have their own rules, so if you're coming from WA and pass through Victoria you'll have to make sure you comply with that state's rules.

Basically: Processed food is fine. Don't bring fresh food.

[Azza]

Having been a regular commuter in / out of the state, its engrained in my memory.

Fresh Fruit
Flowers
Seafood
Plant Material

So don't bother with fresh fruit and you'll be fine.
Arguable that your bushwalking gear is probably the biggest bio-security risk, it should be cleaned of an plant material but no one checks.

[Orion]

Yes, I know the obvious points:
- Most dried packaged food is fine.
- No fresh fruit/vegetables.
- No live plants.

It gets a little less clear when talking about food in ziplock bags. Can I bring a ziplock bag full of pistachios in their shells?

It says that for domestic travelers nuts, meat and cheese are allowable. But I think there is a distinction based on point of origin. Meats in particular may be a touchy subject because of BSE. It's not worth it for me to bring a salami from California anyway. But some cheeses I would bring if I were certain they'd be acceptable.

I'll probably just play it safe and take the usual stuff again: Lots of home dehydrated veggies and home dehydrated meals as well as some packaged food. I think we're going to bring some naan this time since the pide bread available in Hobart seems to have really gone down hill since we first visited. I'm pretty sure white bread will be okay.

[Azza]

You are talking international quarantine. This is a completely different.
Once your in the country your not really going to get that much scrutiny coming into Tasmania.

So just declare your food at Australia customs and they will decide what is allowed. There is no issue unless you don't declare.
http://www.agriculture.gov.au/travellin ... vegetables

It mainly depends on point of origin, USA compared to say SE Asia / china is probably not going to get a lot of scrutiny e.g. pistachios from the California are probably going to be okay.
Cheese would generally be fine.. unless it is blue cheese or a mouldy variety then it may get scrutinised.
Heat treated salami might be fine. I would have thought most bushwalking food was be fine to bring into Australia, due to the fact you don't really want stuff that is going to go off too quickly...
If you want fresh stuff, your really better off getting it locally... especially since "Tasmania is world renowned for our fresh produce"**.

Depends on whether having to dispose of a few items is going to upset you and whether you want the hassle of customs going through all your stuff and holding you up for half an hour.
Customs will want to inspect your hiking boots and tent pegs for dirt. So make sure they're clean otherwise you might lose them.
Generally their pretty reasonable and only really care about unprocessed fresh stuff that might contain nasties.

[Orion]

Thanks, Azza. I understand that most egregious items would be caught at point of entry into the country. But Tasmania has additional restrictions on top of Australian rules, or so I imagine.

What does the following statement mean with regard to what one can take into Tasmania?

. . . . . . "This information relates to Tasmanian domestic travellers only."

Does it mean that once I'm past customs I can take the items on that list into Tasmania? Or are there additional restrictions if I'm not a "domestic traveller", whatever that means?

[South_Aussie_Hiker]

Every time I fly into Wynyard airport, passengers are briefed during descent about quarantine restrictions.

A quarantine officer asks every passenger entering the terminal if they have any fresh fruit or vegetables. A quarantine sniffer dog checks all the checked baggage before it is made available for collection.

[Azza]

Thanks, Azza. I understand that most egregious items would be caught at point of entry into the country. But Tasmania has additional restrictions on top of Australian rules, or so I imagine.

What does the following statement mean with regard to what one can take into Tasmania?

. . . . . . "This information relates to Tasmanian domestic travellers only."

Does it mean that once I'm past customs I can take the items on that list into Tasmania? Or are there additional restrictions if I'm not a "domestic traveller", whatever that means?

It just means entering Tasmanian from another state in Australia. i.e. travelling domestically, which you will be, because you have to enter Australia somewhere on the mainland.
It is possible to enter Tasmanian internationally from a charter flight / cruise ship / Antarctica and therefore you would be subject to further entry customs requirement.

I would assume that international customs requirements for entering Australia should pretty much cover you for getting into Tasmanian.
Really the checks here are just looking for fruit.. people often stash an apple or something in their hand bag.
They'll get the sniffer dog to smell your carry on luggage when you enter the terminal, they sometimes get him to walk over the bags on the conveyor. It doesn't go much further than that.

[CameronLarcombe]

What about if I wanted to bring fruit that I dried in my dehydrator???

[tastrax]

http://www.quarantinedomestic.gov.au/de ... mania.html

according to this only 'commercially dried'

[tastrax]

You could always dry the fruit and vacuum pack it and declare it at the airport but be prepared for it to be confiscated.

Also try a call to these folks

http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/biosecurity/qu ... o-tasmania
Plants/Fruits to Tasmania - (03) 6165 3777

[weeds]

What about if I wanted to bring fruit that I dried in my dehydrator???

We had dried fruit (commercial) broken down into zip lock bags therefore no proof it was commercial. Either way we were not pulled up and the sniffer dog just wagged his tail.

[MrWalker]

If you want to bring something and are not sure if it is OK, then you can ask Quarantine when you arrive. If they say not OK, you just dump it in the bin at Quarantine.
You will not have any penalties if you ask first (apart from dumping that item). They really don't mind being asked.
If you try to bring something in that is not allowed and you have not asked them if it is OK then you can be fined if the dog detects it or they do a random search, which they do if the dog is not working that day.