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Shipping to Canada: what is not allowed

Canada permits most personal goods, with food and plant items controlled by the CFIA and duty/GST on higher-value parcels.

Not accepted for Canada

  • Fresh food, plants, seeds, and soil (CFIA restrictions)
  • Cannabis and cannabis products
  • Prohibited and replica firearms and certain knives
  • Used mattresses and certain used goods

Allowed, with conditions

  • Medicines — personal use, up to a 90-day supply, with a prescription
  • Packaged, sealed food; declare all contents
  • Supplements — subject to Health Canada rules

Duty and GST usually apply above CAD 20 (gifts up to CAD 60 may be exempt).

Accurate value and contents declaration speeds up clearance.

Indian and Kerala food to Canada, 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
  • Dairy and egg content in mixes, which is limited rather than simply allowed and is counted

Do not send to Canada

  • Meat and poultry products, including beef pickle
  • Fresh fruit, vegetables, plants, seeds and soil

The CFIA controls food and plant imports, and dairy and egg content is limited rather than simply allowed. Sealed vegetarian snacks, spices, podis and fruit pickles are the safe core. Declare everything by name.

On the Canada route in particular

Canadian duty thresholds are low, so accurate declarations keep clearance quick.

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

Quick answers: shipping from India to Canada

What can I not send from India to Canada?

Canada does not accept: fresh food, plants, seeds, and soil (CFIA restrictions); cannabis and cannabis products; prohibited and replica firearms and certain knives; used mattresses and certain used goods. 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 Canada?

Yes, within limits: medicines — personal use, up to a 90-day supply, with a prescription. Controlled and psychotropic medicines need clearance first, so ask us before you order them.

Can I send Indian food to Canada?

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: meat and poultry products, including beef pickle; fresh fruit, vegetables, plants, seeds and soil.

How long does a parcel from India to Canada 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 Canada?

Duty and GST usually apply above CAD 20 (gifts up to CAD 60 may be exempt).

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 Canada 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