I am about to embark on international travel. I want to go along with some Nigeria food like grounded and ungrounded egusi(melon),red oil .
I do like to know,if its advisable to take these items along without any immigration hitches,
Could you guys in here please share your experience/s and advise me on this matter, ><>

red oil will most likely be impossible unless frozen. Egusi might get through so long as you wrap it well so it doesnt smell.
Dont try beans. . . no way.

thank u David,,but the red oil is small bottle and the melon is grounded its of 4packets only i packed together with my cloth in a check in bag. I also have a little semolina 3kg.am just wondering if it will raise eye brows and delay my flight.
lol,,no beans to try,,

You should be ok with that.

macmoyor:

thank u David,,but the red oil is small bottle and the melon is grounded its of 4packets only i packed together with my cloth in a check in bag. I also have a little semolina 3kg.am just wondering if it will raise eye brows and delay my flight.
lol,,no beans to try,,

Pray hard that you dont meet some wicked Quarantine officers as they will just look at your food items and proceed without delay to spray chemicals on it and declare them unfit for human consumption.

If you’re coming into the US, do not bring anything that is wet or containing chicken or beef. Usually, wet food stuff can contain organisms not native to the US or even ones that they are trying to eradicate. Chicken is prohibited because of Bird Flu and beef because of Mad Cow disease. Even maggi is prohibited.

macmoyor:

I am about to embark on international travel. I want to go along with some Nigeria food like grounded and ungrounded egusi(melon),red oil .
I do like to know,if its advisable to take these items along without any immigration hitches,
Could you guys in here please share your experience/s and advise me on this matter, ><>

i can never understand the reason nigerians pack these foods on their travel.
jeeez, leave em food in nigeria - there are african markets where you are going.
pack egusi, pack palm oil, pack garri. why not carry a live goat and a live cow along to complete the armoury?

@ Wallie, i guess canada and USA might have similar procedures,moreover,canada requires declaration of  the items.

coogar:

i can never understand the reason nigerians pack these foods on their travel.
jeeez, leave em food in nigeria - there are african markets where you are going.
pack egusi, pack palm oil, pack garri. why not carry a live goat and a live cow along to complete the armoury.

Rotflmao     


coogar,
u no well lol

coogar:

i can never understand the reason nigerians pack these foods on their travel.
jeeez, leave em food in nigeria - there are african markets where you are going.
pack egusi, pack palm oil, pack garri. why not carry[b] a live goat and a live cow along to complete the armoury[/b].

chei ! 

@OP

you forgot periwinkle and okporoko for the Egusi soup.

Whatever you do
Do NOT NOT NOT hide food in your baggage.
When the luggage enters the airport in USA Canada UK
Before you ever see it the security patrols will examine with Xrays which can now show up food stuff
Also Dogs will be used and they will smell out food.
Then when you collect bags BIG WAHALLA!!!!
You will be detained, searched and made to explain then might get instant fine.

Answer take food as hand luggage and declair it to customs ask ploitely if these goods are ok.
At worst then they will only take it off you and explain why.

In most big towns you can get African & Asian foods.

@macmoyor,

australia has declaration of such items (based on experience) i dont no abt canada

dont take palm oil and semovita oooo. ungrounded egusi and ogbonor , beans you should be fine sha

coogar:

i can never understand the reason nigerians pack these foods on their travel.
jeeez, leave em food in nigeria - there are african markets where you are going.
pack egusi, pack palm oil, pack garri. why not carry a live goat and a live cow along to complete the armoury.

ah they willnot wound someone on NL

@OP
Any food stuff is packable, you need rubber band , old news paper and then litter your bag with kaun (potash for anti smell) good luck with nothing to declare  

I don't know about Canada, but the U.S does not allow Egusi that is not blended. You have to make sure all Egusi you are coming with are blended properly, dried and well wrapped.

i remember some years ago when i went to 9ja for a trip and i was returning to my base - so i carried some food stuffs which were meant to be delivered to other people when i arrive, then this lady customs officer checked my luggage and said i can't take the foodstuff because i didn't have 'quarantine certificate'. then my dad who was with me at the airport to see me off began to plead with the customs lady and to my greatest suprise the officer (a lady oh!) said "e shodun fun wa now" meaning 'give us something to celebrate christmas' (it was christmas period) so i had to part with some naira notes after which i was allowed to check in my luggage  

dried fish/oproroko: all your clothes will be smelling of fish.
crayfish: same as above
ummm, not funny, get downy and tide ready.

This is confusing! Some chic even advised/begged me to bring naija food on my way to europe from Nigeria. most posters here say "do not bring".  

macmoyor:

I am about to embark on international travel. I want to go along with some Nigeria food like grounded and ungrounded egusi(melon),red oil .
I do like to know,if its advisable to take these items along without any immigration hitches,
Could you guys in here please share your experience/s and advise me on this matter, ><>

You don't need to bring any food from Nigeria, there are African stores everywhere   .10 mins from me is an African store owned by an Igbo man that carries everything from Egusi,red oil,okazi,oxtail.etc.

too expensive, and they aren't clean/fresh you know.

coogar:

i can never understand the reason nigerians pack these foods on their travel.
jeeez, leave em food in nigeria - there are african markets where you are going.
pack egusi, pack palm oil, pack garri. why not carry a live goat and a live cow along to complete the armoury.

coogar:

i can never understand the reason nigerians pack these foods on their travel.
jeeez, leave em food in nigeria - there are african markets where you are going.
pack egusi, pack palm oil, pack garri. why not carry a live goat and a live cow along to complete the armoury.

Abeg leave story. Me I dey always carry beans and dried fish (Scotland no get eja osan and ewa oloyin) and if I could I go carry live goat o. The meaty pomo cuts are non existence here jo!!!

Be ready to give something to Nigerian custom people. May be a 1000 Naira. You can take any food you like, beans, gari etc, but don't try dried fish and meat except you really wrap them well and possibly put perfume. In UK, of you are unfortunate and they stop and search you, they will give you form to fill and seize them.  You may have to explain what those food are to Oyinbo anyway. Just tell them they are your local foods. But sincerely there are African shops everywhere in Europe and America and you can easily get those foods them, may be just a little bit more expensive anyway.
Good luck to you. Don't carry cigarette oh!!

armyofone:


too expensive, and[b] they aren't clean/fresh you know[/b].

Not a reason coz by d time u get to ur destination, urs will lose d freshness u tot it had

If this is all the food stuffs you are bringing to Canada, then you should have no problems as long as you declare them on your form as edible dry spices . However, my bigger question is why would you be bringing such items to Canada from Malaysia? There are plenty of African food stores  in major cities in Canada selling everything you'll typically find in any Nigerian market.
Depending on whether this is your first time to Canada or not, the fact that you are Nigerian  coming from Malaysia( a known drug route) will ensure that they are going to ask you plenty of questions and search  you and all your luggages very thoroughly.

exactly and they sell horrible stuff. i mean dirty old egusi and crayfish, sawdust like ogbono. dirty looking fish. overly smooth garri, palm oil that leaves sticky after taste in your mouth, sigh
anyway, carry as much as you can.

claremont:

All those people saying there are African stores everywhere; we all know that the cost of African foodstuffs in these African stores is prohibitive as compared to the cost of these same items in Nigeria. If it were possible to bring a live goat from Nigeria, Nigerians would surely have done it. How an African shop would charge £10 for a tiny tuber of yam the size of my palm is beyond me!

You can forget about the red oil, whether frozen or not. The Nigerian customs will not allow it to fly and be prepared to part with some money for the security agencies the moment they discover foodstuff in your luggage.

I remember when i was travelling to the UK, i was asked to pay N15K for my three bags that contained foodstuff. We negotiated and negotiated before they eventually settled for N3K. that is nigerian customs for you.

when i got to the uk, nobody disturbed me for any foodstuff. i did noteven see any security outfit. iam sure their scanners must have done the jobs and their dogs too.

IT IS WELL

naijababe:

Abeg leave story. Me I dey always carry beans and dried fish (Scotland no get eja osan and ewa oloyin) and if I could I go carry live goat o. The meaty pomo cuts are non existence here jo!!!

how much foodstuffs can you carry that would last your entire stay before you go back for refill? you guys are just spoilt?
what's the essence of packing food stuffs especially to the united kingdom when there are super duper african stores in london? it's stressful enough to have travelled six hours on british airways, the last thing i need is any officer questioning and sorting the stuffs in my bags. i hope you know cctvs are trained on you each time you are stopped. maybe one of these days i will see your face on uk border force tv series.

Make sure you ground the egusi or it will be thrown into the garbage. Grinding ensures that no insects are live in the egusi.
Also, make sure you keep Nigeria honest by not bribing those custom guys at Murtala Mohammed International Airport. They will demand for money from you before you check in your luggage. Shameless men!

mix your red oil with Egusi

Canada is very liberal  on such matters . Their main concern is  usually about infested dryfish. Once the quantity is small and neatly packed, you should have no problems. I assure you.