Taking food into the Philippines on a commercial flight

GnarlyKnuckles on 25/05/2017 - 01:45

I am interested to learn what others on here know about the legalities or otherwise of taking food from Australia into the Philippines on a commercial flight in hand luggage or stowed luggage. The site below is about the most informative I have found so far:

https://www.philippine-embassy.org.sg/the-philippines-2/visi…

But there is not much detail there.

I would MOST like to take a kilo or two (or three?) of prime Australian beef over there, which I would of course freeze through first (to ensure that it was fit for consumption on arrival). The problem I foresee is, the only way to ensure that it would not start leaking everywhere as it inevitably thawed over time, would be to 'wrap it up' tightly like a huge parcel of illicit drugs! Which would unfortunately look very suspicious :(

I stay with a very kind family in PH a few times a year, and beef is basically impossible to get where they are in PH/they have never tasted any 'real' beef. I want to bring them some. Do any seasoned travelers to PH know if it would be possible to bring them some from Oz/what the best way to do that would be?

(I am willing to take the risk of 'confiscation' at a PH airport [Man or Cag] btw; but I do not want to be in breach of any laws)

General Discussion

Comments

  • TheMoDz on 25/05/2017 - 03:33
    +1

    Would you be even able to take it "out" of the country first?
    If your purpose is for them to taste "real" beef, wouldn't it be easier to just have money with you and buy it there, currency exchange is really good and food is really cheap there.

    • GnarlyKnuckles on 25/05/2017 - 11:34

      The beef that is available there is generally very bad quality relative to Australian beef, and extremely expensive compared to here. That is my my whole point.

  • chumlee on 25/05/2017 - 06:44
    +4

    Can you vacuum seal it?

  • altomic on 25/05/2017 - 07:08
    +6

    when you say "prime beef" you don't actually mean "headphones"?

    • pao2x on 25/05/2017 - 10:59
      -3

      Illogical because "headphones" are cheaper there

    • GnarlyKnuckles on 25/05/2017 - 11:32

      Chuckle… nah, beef. Which appears to cost just about as much as illicit 'party aids', in carious parts of PH/Asia.

  • fakefilo on 25/05/2017 - 08:34

    A friend of mine flew to Manila with a cooler full of steaks. Not sure how it was packed inside the cooler though

  • Ryanek on 25/05/2017 - 08:48

    It's very common to see people fly into Philippines with small esky's full of meat. Customs are generally lax in Manila.

  • iratepirate on 25/05/2017 - 09:25

    I'm pretty sure they'd appreciate loads of chocolates more than beef.

    • GnarlyKnuckles on 25/05/2017 - 11:30

      Chocolate is readily available there eye-pie, cheaply; unlike beef.

  • NancyCat on 25/05/2017 - 10:28
    +2

    Easy. I've done this many times, for years…all the way to Hong Kong, that's 9+ hours flight!

    Rule no. 1: Checked/Stowed luggage. NOT hand luggage, as the temperature in the cargo hold is a lot cooler than the cabin.

    Pack the meat neatly with normal freezer zip-lock bags, squeeze all the air out. In smallish packs (e.g 2 or 3 porterhouse steaks or 6 lamb cutlets) No need fancy vacuum bags. Freeze meat as normal.

    Pack the frozen meat just before you leave. Wrap each pack with layers of newspaper, then couple of plastic bags.

    Put the 'parcels' in the middle of the suitcase, surround by clothes and stuff.

    That's it. No need cooler bags/ ice blocks…

    • GnarlyKnuckles on 25/05/2017 - 11:36

      Do you 'declare' it Nance? I sometimes transit in Honkers on the way to PH…

      • NancyCat on 25/05/2017 - 11:59

        Never. Two trips every year for the last 20+ year, walked straight through every time. No one asked, no one checked.

  • BuyoTheCat on 25/05/2017 - 10:41
    +1

    I have done so on a 7.5 hr flight.

    There are butchers in Vic Market who sell them in vacuum packs. Freeze them, then wrap with newspaper. Put them in check-in luggage. After 7.5 hr, they have barely thawed.

  • pao2x on 25/05/2017 - 10:50
    +1

    Ive taken home some nice steaks in vac packs before

  • apple2016 on 25/05/2017 - 10:51
    -1

    the link you posted says

    Agriculture quarantine restricts the entry of animals, fish and plant produts or their by-products (such as meat, eggs, birds, fruits, etc.).

    That's quite clear to me.

  • GnarlyKnuckles on 25/05/2017 - 11:27

    Actually it's completely unclear/vague, because while it states that they restrict it, it does not provide any specific details beyond that. It does not say they prohibit it. That would be 'quite clear'.

    What the above implies is that they allow it in some circumstances/allow some types of products, but not others. But no details about what types they allow, and what types they don't.

  • unqualified89 on 25/05/2017 - 11:34
    +1

    Where do you land? I was in Manila last year for a few months and in quite a few supermarkets (in Makati) there was "Australian Beef" that was good quality. Given our exports, it's probably easier to get Australian Beef there than in Australia :P
    Suggest just picking some up when you land in Manila and then head out to where you are staying

    • GnarlyKnuckles on 25/05/2017 - 11:40

      A potentially wise suggestion unq, but the thing is I don't ever leave Manila airport/I time my transit flight to Cagayan so that I don't have to. I ONCE made the mistake of thinking I'd head out of the airport for a few hours to check Manila out. Simply spent a few hours in gridlocked traffic. Never again.

    • unqualified89 on 25/05/2017 - 11:42

      Rustan's Supermarket in Greenbelt 1, Makati, always had a selction of Australian Beef. Can be a 15-20 minute taxi from the airport if you time it right.

  • [Deactivated] on 25/05/2017 - 13:12

    On the customs side, I would expect them to care about country of origin. England had a big Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease scare a few years ago. Foot and mouth is also a worry. I think Australian quarantine is pretty well respected and declaring well packaged meat with proof of country of origin would be deemed low risk.

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