Pack it in a cool bag, and put it in your carry on. When you arrive in the USA, if anyone gives you any trouble tell them you were going to eat it on the plane but "forgot" about it... or they won't notice, and you'll be free and clear.

The only thing the super-sniffer beagles at IAH seem to be able to detect are apples in the backpacks of returning college kids. I had a wheel of stilton in my bag and the hound didn't flinch, but I saw that dog nab 5 apple smugglers.

That's funny. Gramma BamaVol got nabbed, I think at EWR, with an irish apple. She knew she wasn't supposed to, but growing up in the depression, wasting food is just unthinkable.

growing up in Ukraine we didn't waste food either... I guess that explains my "figure" lol

--Russ

I always wonder how much of that stuff really gets burned and how much finds its way to someone's home for dinner...

we have requested on a number of occasions to have the same meal we just ate at dinner to be prepared again for us to take back home (IAD). to our amazement, most small places in Italy will get a chef up at 5am to cook the thing for us. We put it in the middle of the checked luggage. it usually still has a bit of warmth 12 hrs later in DC. have not seen a beagle in dc in a loong time, but when they were there, they had no interest in unpasturized cheeses, or fresh cooked dinners.

about that canned meat...
 

I always bring home presents from a trip, and that includes one for the cat. Way back when, my first trip to Britain, I brought home 2 cans of Britsh cat food for him, and since this was also my first solo international trip, I carefully and truthfully checked off the box on the customs form asking if I was carrying any meat products.

Handed to the agent, he saw the "yes" checked off, and flicked on his flashing red light (do they still have those in customs?) and yelled for an inspector. That guy comes running, and they demand to see what meat I have. I pull out my two little cans of catfood, and they laughed so hard I thought they were going to wet their pants.

They told me that cooked, processed, canned meat was acceptable, but anything less was not. Granted, this many years ago, but none of my catfood cans in the intervening years has interested customs at all. YMMV

BTW, we've brought doggy-bags from European restaurants on more than a few flights, and only ever had trouble with leaving from Amsterdam. No other outbound airport seemed to care, but none of the evidence survived long enough to challenge US customs beagles' noses.

I have done the Europe - US trip probably 20 times in the last 15 or so years. I always take some canned goodies with me, however, nothing that requires refrigeration.

I had to go through the "agri" control four times. As a side note, it appears that the likelihood of a check increases with the number of bags and the number of countries visited.

Either way, twice of these four times I had give up some foods. Just a week I got stopped again and I had four cans of a pork product with me. The lady behind the scanner claimed loudly that "they" have BSE in Germany and the pork should be confiscated. A hushed, short discussion ensued between her and her supervisor and the cans were returned to me promptly.

The officer did mention that if I claim no food on the customs form and I get caught with food that is withheld, the applicable fine is $300. However, a few years ago some of my things were confiscated, yet I was let go with nothing but a stern look from the officer.