Meat Products 🇳🇿 New Zealand
Almost all meat products are prohibited. New Zealand has strict biosecurity controls.
Can I bring Meat Products into New Zealand?
Almost all meat products are prohibited. New Zealand has strict biosecurity controls.
Zero for most meat products
- Declaration on Passenger Arrival Card mandatory
Required at the destination customs authority
Full details
New Zealand prohibits most meat and meat products from being brought in by travellers under the Biosecurity Act 1993. This includes fresh, frozen, dried, smoked, and cured meats. Commercially sealed, heat-treated products in retail packaging may be assessed by MPI biosecurity staff at the border but are often still refused. The main concern is foot-and-mouth disease and other exotic pathogens that could devastate NZ's agricultural sector. Penalties for non-declaration start at NZD 400 and can reach NZD 100,000 for deliberate smuggling. New Zealand uses X-ray, detector dogs, and declaration cards to intercept prohibited items.
PENALTIES
- Fine: 5000–500000 NZD
- Imprisonment up to 84 months
- Criminal penalty
Active — Customs actively enforces this rule.
Leaving New Zealand with meat products
Personal-use quantities of processed, cooked, or shelf-stable meat products (jerky, cured meats, canned meats) may generally be exported from New Zealand for personal consumption; destination-country biosecurity restrictions on arrival are typically the binding constraint. Raw meat, poultry, and offal require a veterinary-issued Export Health Certificate for commercial or above-personal-use export. Many destinations (Australia, New Zealand, Japan, US, EU) restrict or prohibit personal-import of raw and cooked meat regardless of origin-side export permissions.
Consume or dispose of all meat products before landing in New Zealand. Declare anything food-related even if uncertain — it is better to have it checked than face a fine.
Zero for most meat products
- Declaration on Passenger Arrival Card mandatory
Biosecurity Act 1993; Biosecurity (Prohibited Items, Inspection and Seizure of Craft) Regulations 1993
This page covers destination customs rules in New Zealand. Whether you can carry meat products through security, in carry-on, or in checked baggage depends on airline and screening rules — see air travel rules.
Meat Products rules in other countries
Meat Products
🇦🇺 Australia
Fresh, dried, and most cooked meat products are prohibited. Biosecurity risk.
Meat Products
🇺🇸 United States
Most fresh and cured meats prohibited from most countries
Meat Products
🇧🇷 Brazil
MAPA inspection required for most animal products
Meat Products
🇨🇳 China
Most meat products prohibited under GACC regulations
Meat Products
🇮🇩 Indonesia
Halal certification required for meat imports
Meat Products
🇭🇰 Hong Kong
Most meat requires AFCD import permit