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Shipping to Australia: what is not allowed

Australia has some of the world's strictest biosecurity controls. Food, plant, wood, and animal products are heavily restricted.

Not accepted for Australia

  • Seeds, nuts, fresh food, fruit, and vegetables
  • Honey and bee products
  • Wooden items, bamboo, and untreated plant material
  • Meat, dairy, and egg products
  • Soil, sand, and anything contaminated with it
  • Asbestos-containing goods (strictly banned)

Allowed, with conditions

  • Commercially packaged food — must be declared and may be inspected/held
  • Medicines — personal quantity with a prescription
  • Supplements — declare; some ingredients are prohibited

Declare everything honestly.

GST/duty generally applies to goods valued over AUD 1,000.

Indian and Kerala food to Australia, item by item

Customs does not care whether food is Indian. It cares about three things: animal origin — meat, fish, dairy, egg; plant and seed material — raw grain, seeds, nuts, fresh produce; and everything else, sealed and commercially packaged, which is broadly fine when it is declared accurately. Almost every Kerala snack sits in the third group. Almost every refusal sits in the first two.

Usually fine, sealed and declared

  • Nendran and banana chips, tapioca chips, jackfruit chips
  • Murukku, achappam, kuzhalappam, mixture, pakkavada
  • Sharkara varatti and jaggery-coated snacks
  • Pappadam
  • Kerala halwa and commercially packaged sweets with no dairy
  • Vegetarian pickles — mango, lemon, garlic, puli inji
  • Chammanthi podi, idli and dosa podi, sambar and curry powders, masala
  • Cardamom, black pepper, cloves and other dry Malabar spices
  • Tea and coffee powder

Send with care

  • Anything homemade, loose-packed or relabelled
  • Payasam, halwa and dessert mixes, which often contain milk powder and are then treated as dairy rather than as a snack
  • Matta rice and any raw grain, pulse, seed or raw nut — this is plant material, not groceries, and it is judged as such
  • Coconut oil and liquid pickles, which are allowed but leak; tell us on the pre-alert so we pack them separately
  • Wooden or woven packaging, gift baskets and dried leaves used as padding, which are inspected as plant material in their own right
  • Jaggery-coated snacks and halwa, which are allowed but arrive soft after a long sector

Do not send to Australia

  • Seeds, raw nuts, raw grains and pulses — matta rice included
  • Fresh fruit and vegetables, and anything with soil or plant debris on it
  • Meat, dairy, egg and honey
  • Homemade food of any kind, however well sealed

These are the strictest destinations we ship to. Every food item must be declared. Commercially packaged, clearly labelled vegetarian snacks, spices and pickles are frequently allowed. Raw grain and anything homemade should not be sent.

On the Australia route in particular

Australian biosecurity is the strictest of any destination we ship to. Food and plant products must be declared exactly.

Normal transit on this route is 4 to 14 business days from our warehouse in Kerala.

Quick answers: shipping from India to Australia

What can I not send from India to Australia?

Australia does not accept: seeds, nuts, fresh food, fruit, and vegetables; honey and bee products; wooden items, bamboo, and untreated plant material; meat, dairy, and egg products; soil, sand, and anything contaminated with it; asbestos-containing goods (strictly banned). On every route, we also cannot carry anything with a battery, mobile phones and laptops, real gold, silver or diamond jewellery, or anything flammable or pressurised such as perfume, aerosols and nail polish.

Can I send medicines from India to Australia?

Yes, within limits: medicines — personal quantity with a prescription. Controlled and psychotropic medicines need clearance first, so ask us before you order them.

Can I send Indian food to Australia?

Sealed, commercially packaged food usually goes, declared accurately: nendran and banana chips, tapioca chips, jackfruit chips; murukku, achappam, kuzhalappam, mixture, pakkavada; sharkara varatti and jaggery-coated snacks. Do not send: seeds, raw nuts, raw grains and pulses; fresh fruit and vegetables, and anything with soil or plant debris on it.

How long does a parcel from India to Australia take?

Normal transit on this route is 4 to 14 business days from our warehouse in Kerala.

Will I pay customs duty or tax in Australia?

GST/duty generally applies to goods valued over AUD 1,000.

Never accepted, wherever you are

These are refused by the airlines, by Indian export rules or by us, so they cannot leave our warehouse for any destination.

Prohibited, restricted and dangerous goods, in one line each. Prohibited means it cannot be sent at all. Restricted means it can travel, but only under conditions your country sets, such as a personal quantity, a prescription or a declaration; those are listed under each destination. Dangerous goods are what airlines treat as a hazard on board: anything flammable, corrosive or pressurised. We also cannot ship anything with a battery, or anything that burns, such as agarbatti and camphor.

  • Cash, currency, cheques, bullion, and loose precious stones
  • Narcotics, illegal drugs, and psychotropic substances
  • Firearms, ammunition, explosives, fireworks, and weapons (including replicas)
  • Anything with a battery, including power banks, battery-operated toys and watches
  • Mobile phones and laptops
  • Real gold, silver and diamond jewellery
  • Flammable, corrosive, or pressurised goods — perfumes/deodorant sprays, aerosols, nail polish and remover, paints, thinners, fuel, gas cylinders, lighters, and matches
  • Anything that burns: agarbatti (incense sticks), dhoop, camphor, sambrani and candles
  • Live animals, plants, seeds, soil, and products of endangered species (CITES)
  • Pornographic, obscene, or seditious material
  • Counterfeit goods and pirated media
  • Human remains, biological samples, and infectious substances
  • Radioactive and toxic substances

Medicines and supplements are the one thing to check before you order. They are not banned — almost every destination lets a personal quantity through in its original packaging with a copy of the prescription. What changes from country to country is how much counts as personal, whose name the prescription has to be in, and which ingredients need clearance from that country's health authority first.

The rule for Australia is under Allowed, with conditions above. Controlled and psychotropic medicines are a separate case: several countries want their own health authority to clear the parcel first, so check with us before you order rather than after it arrives with us.

If you are not sure about something, ask on WhatsApp before you order it.

The same list, talked through

Three and a half minutes on what cannot leave India, what your own country will not let in, and the things that travel perfectly well once the paperwork is right.

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What You Can and Can't Ship From India (Full List)

Rules for other destinations