shipping food?

Looking to send a package of snacks to Japan to someone with some specific dietary restrictions (keto) and I'm finding a lot of conflicting answers on what is allowed and not allowed.

I was hoping to make and send beef jerky, plus a few other things like pickled eggs, dulce, maybe some homemade cheese chips or chia/flax chips, sugar free jello mix, pork rinds, etc. Any of this stuff no go? Any other rules or restrictions I should be careful of? I'm so confused by what I've been reading. Some says no food products at all, some say just restrictions on fresh food, another says only packaged food with ingredient labels and best before dates - does that mean no homemade?

Thanks!

Homemades are normally a no go across most borders worldwide. Commercially packaged products normally don't raise alarm bells in normal quantity levels. But it would be best to visit the custom website of the country you intent to send the food items to.

The packaged stuff is fine, the homemade stuff could potentially get caught. We have students who receive care packages from their home countries all the time.

meat products are not allowed, even though those are packed by manufacturers.

This site answers your questions. As you can see from the list, seafood is not included and in fact, I've brought cooked crab into Japan as gifts packed in dry ice. I've sent homemade cake too and that went through ok. This site is mostly referencing food items from the US though and if you are coming from other countries, I would check the Japanese consulates in your country.

Forgot to add the site: http://www.seattle.us.emb-japan.go.jp/about/import_restrictions.html