bringing food into the U.S.A.

xctraveler wrote:
Yeah, but, they don't grow citrus in Canada,

Sure they do, though often indoors and perhaps not commercially on any large scale. And homegrown fruits are a bigger threat to agriculture than the more heavily regulated commercial ones, as anyone who's ever seen a "do not transport home grown tree fruit" sign here in Washington State knows!

Here quoting from one Canadian nursery that sell treestock for fruit production:

Duncan's nursery, B.C. wrote:
Citrus - lemons, limes, mandarin oranges, blood oranges, navel oranges, kumquats, hardy citrus, kaffir limes- over 30 varieties - some of which are hardy enough to be grown outside;

Source

Yeah, but, they don't grow citrus in Canada, it most likely came from FL or CA to begin with. Unless it came from Chile as so much of our fruit does.

xctraveler wrote:
We cross the border often and are seldom bothered by food issues. There seems to be a craze against citrus, not sure why since neither the northern border states or the provinces are significant citrus growers, but the rules is the rules! .

Simple answer is: If a citrus fruit (lemon, lime, orange, grape fruit, etc.) had a “citrus canker” disease and that fruit made it to Florida or any other citrus producing state, than the entire two billion dollar a year citrus industry could be lost until the disease is eradicated.

The border folks are the first line of protection from ALL threats and they are only trying to do a very difficult job of protecting this great nation.

Lakeside

Foods NOT allowed entry into the USA: All citrus is banned. Lamb and goat for human consumption is banned in any form, also L/G in pet food. More than 50# of potatoes from Newfoundland are banned. Chicken from BC is banned. Whole tomatoes and bell peppers are banned. Sliced or cut up tomatoes and peppers are able to enter. Plants with soil on their roots are banned if not accompanied with a clearance certificate. Cut flowers are able to enter. Christmas trees are not allowed entry unless accompanied by a clearance certificate. Most meats from Asia, Africa, and Europe are banned. Moose meat, caribou meat, elk meat, bear meat, and migratory fowl meat is allowed to enter if crossing with the person who harvested it and that person is in possession of a valid Canadian license and that person has any applicable Canadian export permits in their possession. Hope this helps.

Lakeside

We cross the border often and are seldom bothered by food issues. There seems to be a craze against citrus, not sure why since neither the northern border states or the provinces are significant citrus growers, but the rules is the rules! Meat, especially beef goes on and off the controlled list depending on the day of the week (it seems) and whether someone has had an outbreak of something on one side of the border or the other.

If an inspector want to, and if they see the lemons on the refer door where they were told they were and deny seeing them (true story) they can do that too. Be prepared to declare what you have and accept it when they tell you something must be discarded. The worst they will do is trash can an item. Answer questions with simple answers and do not volunteer that Aunt Sophie made the cake.

Don't do it. We have groceries down here. Any list is likely to be out of date by the time you pull up to the border check point.

We have found it best to cross both ways with absolutely no fresh fruits and vegetables, it's not worth the risk. The web sites are not reliable as the rules change almost daily, per the crossing guards.

Check both US or Canadian Customs web sites for prohibited items before you get to either border. Things change. When I returned to the US at Sweetgrass, Montana, citrus fruit was on the banned list, but that may have been because of some major league arm twisting by California Citrus growers.

When we returned to Maine from Atlantic Canada, the only food questioned was citrus, so we handed the man our lime and went on our way. Not interested in our other food including non-citrus fresh produce.

mayo30 wrote:
Don't take any buy it after you cross.Support the local economy and save a ton of money,no border problems either.

Except you cannot get certain items here in the states that are available easily in Canada