Fresh Fruit 🇦🇺 Australia
Most fresh fruit is prohibited due to biosecurity risk. Must be declared.
Can I bring Fresh Fruit into Australia?
Most fresh fruit is prohibited due to biosecurity risk. Must be declared.
Generally prohibited; trace amounts in processed foods assessed case-by-case
- Declaration on Incoming Passenger Card
Required at the destination customs authority
Full details
Australia prohibits the importation of most fresh fruit due to biosecurity risks from exotic pests and diseases such as the Mediterranean fruit fly, citrus canker, and various fungal pathogens. Some fruits from approved, accredited sources may be permitted with phytosanitary certificates, but these are not typically relevant to individual travellers. Travellers must declare all fresh fruit on the Incoming Passenger Card. Undeclared fruit found by biosecurity detector dogs or X-ray results in on-the-spot fines (typically AUD 222,000 civil penalty in serious cases; AUD 444 infringement notice). Travellers should eat or dispose of all fruit before arrival.
PENALTIES
- Fine: 66600–1665000 AUD
- Imprisonment up to 120 months
- Criminal penalty
Active — Customs actively enforces this rule.
Leaving Australia with fresh fruit
Personal-use quantities of fresh fruit may generally be exported from Australia for personal consumption; destination-country biosecurity restrictions on arrival are typically the binding constraint. Commercial or above-personal-use fresh-fruit export requires a Phytosanitary Certificate issued by the national plant protection organisation under the IPPC framework. Many destinations (Australia, New Zealand, US, Japan, EU for particular fruits) restrict or prohibit personal-import of fresh fruit regardless of origin-side export permissions. Australia and New Zealand additionally seize fresh fruit that reaches their border with fines.
Consume, dispose of, or surrender all fruit before arriving in Australia. Biosecurity bins are available airside before customs. Always declare — the biosecurity card has a 'food' declaration option.
Generally prohibited; trace amounts in processed foods assessed case-by-case
- Declaration on Incoming Passenger Card
Biosecurity Act 2015; Biosecurity (Prohibited and Conditionally Non-Prohibited Goods) Determination 2016
This page covers destination customs rules in Australia. Whether you can carry fresh fruit through security, in carry-on, or in checked baggage depends on airline and screening rules — see air travel rules.
Related rules
Fresh Fruit rules in other countries
Fresh Fruit
🇺🇸 United States
Most fresh fruit prohibited without permit
Fresh Fruit
🇯🇵 Japan
Strict plant quarantine; most fruit prohibited
Fresh Fruit
🇸🇬 Singapore
Generally permitted with declaration
Fresh Fruit
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
Subject to MOCCAE inspection
Fresh Fruit
🇩🇪 Germany
EU phytosanitary rules apply from non-EU
Fresh Fruit
🇨🇦 Canada
CFIA inspection; most commercial fruit permitted