Any foods not allowed into Mexico

Well, just a waste of a good discussion. Easy crossing, officer came on board, wandered up and down a bit and then told me where I could park for immigration. Didn't even look in the fridge

ADUANEROS are all different. Some have a bone up their ass about desktop computers others are all charged up over carne de vaca loca. An Aduanero may be cussed out by a tourist and woe is he that follows in train.

How can you predict your crossing? You can't. A person that crosses anytime and anywhere is only expert on his crossing, not on the person before him nor the person after.

Beef is a sore-point. So are used tires, full jerry cans of gasoline and desktop computers crossing into the state of Baja California. Mounds of used clothing bring objections. Chemicals too.

Ought-to-be's are a hell of a long way from is's. Opinions about trade protection have a coupon value of 1/3rd cent each. It is what it is, like it or not. Realizing what is prohibited is worth something. Griping about it is worth a mere acid stomach.

Talleyho69 wrote:
Dog food just depends. I believe that Nutro is now available from vets in Mexico. Contact Nutro directly-they will tell you if is, and where.
I personally do not suggest that you hide dog food, or anything else when entering a foreign country.

Thanks- I'll try that- no Mexico on their International pages, but I'll shoot them an email.

navegator wrote:
Guess what Sonoyta is a customs check point for every thing that is manufactured, re-manufactured, or for the maquiladoras further South in the interior of Mexico that comes from Mexicali, Tecate or Tijuana, Lukeville is just a crossing point for the turistas, the aduaneros at this customs post are the most corrupt in all of Mexico, they make up the rules as the day goes.

I have been trying to find out exactly what is forbidden or a no-no in the next months, not much luck all that I find is meat, poultry, eggs a lot of chemicals that no one in their right mind would have and the regular tourist items that are meant for aircraft passengers.

navegator

caca de vaca

Dog food just depends. I believe that Nutro is now available from vets in Mexico. Contact Nutro directly-they will tell you if is, and where.
I personally do not suggest that you hide dog food, or anything else when entering a foreign country.

This could be problematic for our dog food - we try to keep him on the same food (Nutro). We picked it because it is available in Canada, the USA & Europe, so we never had to cross a border with it.

Apparently not available in Mexico.

OK Thanks. Leaving aside any political arguments (and coming from a country where we seem to have ended up with some of the worst pests from overseas because of breakdowns in our strict quarantine laws (fire ants being the latest one), I can appreciate the need for certain quarantine inspections just as CA carries out), it seems that the practicalities of Mexican inspections, which are always different to the law as written,mean that I can't take in Beef, but will probably have no problem with frozen fish, poultry or pork. Probably best to forget about fresh milk but UHT milk will be OK. Vegetables OK?? And what about Yoghurt? Eggs NO.

Anything significantly wrong with this summary.

Obviously things have changed since we went down last because then Lukeville was a sleepy post where nobody even noticed as we went through.

When I drove a truck the California check points were looking for a number of insects - not just fruit flies - it would depend on what part of the country I was coming from - they were particularly concerned about Gypsy Moths from New England and to my knowledge they have still managed to keep that plague out of California. There were other things they would look for from other parts of the country but at this point I can't recall exactly what. As we travel all over North America we do see insects in different parts of the country that we do not see in California - but we are not experts and do not claim to be. Now there is a checkpoint on every road going into California where they stop everyone no matter which state or where you are coming from and have fruit thrown out no matter where it came from. When we came in from Canada to the US last summer they made us throw our eggs away because of some avian flu I think. In Mexico there were checkpoints going into Chetumal where they made us throw away a number of things. I do certainly agree that some of the border requirements are ridiculous and definitely have to do with NAFTA never getting to where they agreed on the things they were suppose to agree on. Mexican trucks were not allowed into the US until recently because trucker unions in the US insisted Mexican trucks are not safe and Mexican truckers do not have the same licensing requirements - it took years to iron that out - but interestingly enough Mexican truckers do not want to enter the US. There are many reasons for border requirements in all directions and some are just nonsense and some are there for reasons only the experts will ever know.

4X4Dodger wrote:

tepetapan wrote:

navegator wrote:
Some of those restrictions are actually there to prevent infestations and plagues to migrate.

The best example.

Person smuggled oranges from Mexico to Southern California, some of this fruit had the larva of the fruit fly and the orange industry in California took one hell of a hit, for years we had aircraft flying in patterns releasing sterile male fruit flies, the millions of dollars that the economy and the eradication program is costing, all because one person did not heed a simple rule and a lot of persons have to pay for this, it has been years and this program of fruit fly eradication is still going on.

navegator

I have, for may be two decades, found these excuses rather bizarre. Fruit flies fly, no passport needed. For government to claim they migrated by smuggling is giving them way too much credit. Way too much. Same with the avocado restrictions. Pure protectionism and propaganda.

Fruit flies don't migrate long distances like some other insects and their life span is very short. This makes importation the most likey path of contamination. Billions of dollars are at stake, tens of thousands of jobs in many industries.

Anybody can understand that calculation surely. This is why CA is one of the ONLY states to have agricultural inspection stations on all the major highways leading into the state and everyone gets stopped and asked if they have any fruit or vegetables.

Now for protectionism: Its a valid reason to limit imports. I am willing to bet you are against unregulated migration from Mexico to the US...that boiled down to it's true essence is economic (jobs) protectionism.

As for Avocados...Mexican avocados are sold all over the country CA cannot supply the entire demand.

I like the first paragraph where you mention "most likely" and don't seem to consider natural migration and being carried by winds. And then go on to how explain about how business can be hurt by foreign imports.
We might agree, 40 years ago, that banning imported fruit MIGHT slow the migration but the deed is done. Fruit flies are there and they will not be deported by any means. Stopping the importation is now just, again, protectionism.
When NAFTA was agreed to, if the US wanted to exclude certain fruits that might cause a monetary problem in some industries, that should have been written in and agreed upon. But after you sign a trade agreement and disregard court opinions time and time again a reasonable person might begin to question the real reason there is a problem.

Seems rather ridiculous that you could have a few cheese slices impounded while millions of $$ ( maybe Billions) are carried across every year. Mexico is the only NAFTA country that does not take a picture of your license plate and often you do not even speak to a Customs agent. They do not know who you are or where you are going. But don't bring a bag of dog food. Ludicrous. It's not matter of cowering to Gringo demands. It is common sense. Why bite the hand that feeds you? I would p---s on that meat before handing it over! BTW: I asked 4 neighbors and none were hassled at Nogales.