Bringing dried meat into Japan

Hello,

Does anyone have any experience bringing small quantities of dried meat into Japan? Specifically, I would like to bring pork jerky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakkwa) as a gift.

Would I be stopped at customs?

Thanks!

I don't know that particular meat jerky.
I often take beef jerky from US. Costco has sealed beef or other meat jerky packages specially made for export that have the instructions in Japanese/English not to open before the Customs inspection.
Check with Japanese Customs site.

You need to declare it. (are supposed to anyway).
Unless it is somewhere from which pork imports are banned, jerky will be ok to bring in.
I have brought jerky from Aus many times.
During the BSE scare when US imports were banned, US beef jerky was also banned.

Your pork should be fine.

No meat products can be brought into Japan without this inspection certificate. This requirement applies to any import irrespective of the use or quantity: it should be noted that import of such products for souvenir, personal consumption or commercial sample, no matter how small the quantity is, needs to obtain an inspection certificate issued by the government authority.

For details, please check out the website by Animal Quarantine Service of Japan.
http://www.maff.go.jp/aqs/english/product/import.html

Interesting.

What is written doesn't match with my experience. When I first started coming to Japan, I didn't declare it - I didn't realise I had to.
I have declared it subsequently and have had no problem bringing it in. (Jerky from Aus). I was told by customs people during the height of the BSE troubles, that had it been from the US I couldn't have brought it in.

Ok, on reading it again, it can be brought in if it is from a duty free shop which has the certification. (See below) If you pork fits this criteria it should be fine.


Meat products bearing an inspection certificate intended for entry into Japan are sold at duty-free shops and other outlets in the U.S. (including Hawaii, Guam and Saipan), Canada, Australia and New Zealand , and only those with the certificate, can be brought into Japan.

I've flown to Japan 3 times from the U.S. with sealed beef jerky in my luggage and had no trouble going through customs
They sell it here too but it's not as delicious and a bit more expensive

Being allowed to bring something in & getting caught/not getting caught are two different issues.

Depending on the beef's country of origin, bringing in beef jerkey is still banned... obviously with the best known case being American beef. Doesn't matter if you declare it or not, American beef jerkey is not allowed into Japan.

That being said, depends on the origin of the meat on whether it's allowed or not.

Bean, did you look at the MAFF site.
It says US beef can be brought in if it has the necessary certification - which it should if it has been bought at a duty free shop.

US beef is being sold in Japan - eg all yoshinoya's beef is from the US. There are still restrictions on the beef that can come in - no beef more than a certain age, no spinal material and only from certain abattoirs.
There is NO blanket ban on US beef.

OP, the MAFF site spells it out pretty clearly.

Actually, yes, I did read the MAFF site.�@�@Going off the Japanese site's PDF:

It says:
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Paraphrasing here:
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http://www.maff.go.jp/aqs/tetuzuki/product/pdf/usbeef.pdf

So... which part am I misunderstanding?

This posted is about Beef Jerky.
The OP wants to bring in Pork Jerky.

I couldn't see anything about a pork jerky prohibition.

tokyogirl:

I was defending my post, of which you attacked my source "did you read the MAFF site?", and in the process corrected your bad information. Now you're shifting focus back to the OP's post? Right... Just acknowledge that you posted bad information.

The MAFF's PDF file refuted your points to a tee.

Anyways, not sure if you are able to read the Japanese but for everybody else, it reads:

To travelers visiting the US and Canada,

Processed beef items including beef jerky, sausages, and hams are not allowed to be brought in, ALTHOUGH the imports of US beef has been resumed.

Even if items are purchased at duty-free shops, they are not allowed to be brought in so please be careful.

I wasn't attacking your source.
I was asking a genuine question.

Reading further down on the English site that I took the original quote about meat products being able to be brought in with certification, it does mention the beef jerky ban from the US. I didn't read down to that point. You are 100% right that there is a jerky ban on US Candadian beef. No dispute.

But it's also worth pointing out to the OP - who is looking for an answer for his/her question - that so long as his pork is certified, it will be OK to bring it in.

Peiyi,

As mentioned above, but perhaps lost in the fray of the beef debate, when purchasing your pork jerky make sure it has a label that sames something like "packaged for export". With that label it should be fine to bring into Japan. You should declare it on your customs form, and you may be inspected at customs.

As to the beef debate going on above, there seems to be a confusion between regular travellers and wholesale importers. Different rules apply to each, but the average tourist will generally want to avoid bringing beef products into Japan.

Thanks for all the responses. I will look for a duty free product with some form of certification and try to bring it in.

Will update again if it's successful!

I had the same question two years ago when I went to Japan. My cousin loves beef jerky from the US and he wanted me to bring some in as his omiage. I didn't because of this "debate". This time I will bring some and see where things fall. Perhaps they will confiscate it-but I bet they will eat. Oh well, as long as someone enjoys it :)

US Beef Jerky is not ok.
US Pork Jerky should be ok if certified.

If you bring it and it gets confiscated, you can be sure customs won't be allowed to munch on it.

I have been looking at jerky packets recently, after this discussion. It seems to come from Argentina, NZ & Aus. only.

Hello, OP here.

Just to clarify, I'm not from the US. I was able to bring in vacuum-sealed pork jerky from Singapore without problems.

There wasn't even an option to declare that I had such items in my possession.

Just to clarify, I'm not from the US. I was able to bring in vacuum-sealed pork jerky from Singapore without problems.

As in you brought pork jerky packaged for export, were inspected at customs, and were cleared without incident? Or, did you not declare and/or pass through customs without inspection? Can you give us more info?

There wasn't even an option to declare that I had such items in my possession.

Did you not fill out the customs declaration form?

http://www.customs.go.jp/kaisei/youshiki/form_C/C5360-B.pdf

Meat products are clearly labeled as a restricted article and must be declared in the Description of Personal Effects section on the back side of the form.