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Shipping to United States (USA): what is not allowed

Shipping to the USA is straightforward for most personal goods, but food, medicines, and high-value items have specific customs (CBP/FDA) rules.

Not accepted for United States (USA)

  • Meat, poultry, and many dairy products
  • Fresh fruit, vegetables, and most plant material (USDA restrictions)
  • Kinder Joy / toys with candy embedded inside
  • Cuban-origin goods, ivory, and tortoise-shell products
  • Switchblades and certain knives

Allowed, with conditions

  • Prescription medicines — personal quantity only, in original packaging, with a copy of the prescription
  • Packaged, sealed, shelf-stable food (no meat); declare contents
  • Vitamins and supplements — declare; some ingredients are restricted by the FDA
  • Gold jewellery in personal quantities — allowed by US customs with the value declared, but India Rabbit does not ship real gold, silver or diamond jewellery
  • Electronics — declare the accurate value

There is no duty-free allowance for parcels from India: the USD 800 de-minimis exemption was suspended on 29 August 2025 and the suspension has been continued since. Since 24 July 2026, goods from India also carry an extra 10% duty (Section 301) on top of the normal duty rate. These rules have changed several times, so check the current CBP position before a large order.

The receiver may be contacted by CBP to clear the shipment and pay any charges.

Indian and Kerala food to the USA, 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
  • Anything with a health or medicinal claim on the packet — that moves it from food to a product the FDA assesses differently

Do not send to the USA

  • Meat and poultry in any form, including beef pickle and meat masala with meat content
  • Fresh fruit, vegetables, seeds and most plant material
  • Many dairy products — ghee and milk-based sweets are decided case by case

The FDA requires prior notice for commercial food shipments but personal-quantity packaged food is generally accepted, and a sealed labelled snack with a visible ingredients list clears far more easily than an unlabelled bag. Meat is the absolute line.

On the the USA route in particular

Consolidation matters most on this route — the distance makes per-parcel shipping expensive, so combining orders is where the saving is.

Normal transit on this route is 4 to 12 business days from our warehouse in Kerala.

Quick answers: shipping from India to the USA

What can I not send from India to the USA?

The USA does not accept: meat, poultry, and many dairy products; fresh fruit, vegetables, and most plant material (USDA restrictions); Kinder Joy / toys with candy embedded inside; cuban-origin goods, ivory, and tortoise-shell products; switchblades and certain knives. 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 the USA?

Yes, within limits: prescription medicines — personal quantity only, in original packaging, with a copy of the prescription. Controlled and psychotropic medicines need clearance first, so ask us before you order them.

Can I send Indian food to the USA?

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 in any form, including beef pickle and meat masala with meat content; fresh fruit, vegetables, seeds and most plant material.

How long does a parcel from India to the USA take?

Normal transit on this route is 4 to 12 business days from our warehouse in Kerala.

Will I pay customs duty or tax in the USA?

There is no duty-free allowance for parcels from India: the USD 800 de-minimis exemption was suspended on 29 August 2025 and the suspension has been continued since. Since 24 July 2026, goods from India also carry an extra 10% duty (Section 301) on top of the normal duty rate. These rules have changed several times, so check the current CBP position before a large order.

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 the USA 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)

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