Traceability
A factory-sealed product lists its own manufacturer, ingredients and a lot or batch reference. A homemade jar of jam has none of that to hand an inspector who has to make a decision on paper.
International food
Can you mail food out of the country?
Yes, within limits USPS sets on the American side, and then within a second, entirely separate set of limits the destination country sets on its own. The two rulebooks do not agree with each other and neither one defers to the other. This page covers only the outbound-from-US question; the domestic room-temperature test and cookie-box pricing live on our shipping food inside the US guide, and Canada's specific rules live on our Canada food guide.
USPS manual, quotedRead 2026-08-30Destination rules govern
Two rulebooks, not one
Clearing USPS's side of the mailbox is the easy half of the question.
The US side: fresh food is out, shelf-stable food is in
“Fruits, vegetables, fresh meats, and other articles that easily decompose or that cannot reasonably be expected to reach their destination without spoiling are nonmailable.”USPS International Mail Manual, section 138.4, pe.usps.com, read 2026-08-30
That rule applies before any destination is even considered; it is USPS's own mailability line, the same instinct behind the domestic room-temperature test our other food guide walks through. What it leaves open is everything shelf-stable: sealed snack foods, dried goods, coffee, tea, spices, hard candy, commercially packaged baked goods. None of that is barred by USPS on the way out. What happens to it after export is a different rulebook entirely, and USPS says so directly.
The destination country is the real gate, not USPS
“Articles that are prohibited by the destination country are nonmailable. For mail known to contain articles restricted by the destination country, the sender must be informed of the restrictions and advised that the articles are subject to the import requirements of that country.”USPS International Mail Manual, section 131.32, pe.usps.com, read 2026-08-30
The same section adds a second sentence worth taking seriously: a country may return or seize mail containing prohibited or restricted articles whether or not notice of that restriction has ever been published by the Postal Service. A US sender clearing USPS's own list is not the same thing as clearing the destination's list, and USPS is explicit that it does not carry the burden of knowing every country's food rules on the sender's behalf.
The same principle holds for animal-origin products specifically. The US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service maintains a country-by-country reference for exactly this reason, and states its own limits on it: “Import requirements may change at any time. Exporters must ensure that their importer confirms current certification requirements with the Ministry of Animal Health (or equivalent authority) in the importing country before shipping.” A federal agency built specifically to track this defers to each destination country's own current rule rather than publishing one universal answer.
What the customs form has to say about the contents
Every parcel leaving the US carries a customs declaration, and USPS names the two forms directly: PS Form 2976, the CN22, and PS Form 2976-A, the CP72, the larger form required on Priority Mail International regardless of value.
| Requirement | What the manual states |
|---|---|
| Form for First-Class Package International, 400 USD or less | PS Form 2976 (CN22) or 2976-A (CP72) |
| Form for Priority Mail International | PS Form 2976-A (CP72), all items, all values |
| Description field | A detailed description of contents, including the quantity, net weight and value for each item |
| Classification field | Harmonized System (HS) code, Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) code, or Schedule B number |
“Assorted food gift” does not satisfy a detailed-description requirement, and a vague entry is exactly the kind of declaration a destination inspector pulls aside for a second look. “Sealed bag of roasted coffee beans, 12 oz, retail packaged” does the job the form is asking for. Our customs form guide covers the rest of the form field by field; this page is only about the contents description on a food shipment specifically.
Why sealed and shelf-stable passes so much more often than homemade
The categories that get flagged everywhere
Meat, dairy, fresh produce and seeds are the four categories that show up as restricted or prohibited across the widest range of destination countries, regardless of how they are packaged.
Shelf-stable is the safer default
Commercially sealed, ambient-stable goods, snacks, candy, dried spices, coffee and tea, clear more borders than any other food category, which is why they are the standard advice rather than a loophole.
Build the habit of looking the country up, not memorizing a list
No single page can enumerate what every country accepts, because the answer changes by country and by year. Canada is a useful example of how sharply one country's own rules can differ from a general assumption: shelf-stable, commercially packaged food from the US is permitted up to 20 kg per person, but retail-packaged meat is barred from mail and courier shipment entirely regardless of packaging, a distinction our Canada food guide covers with the CFIA and CBSA sources behind it. Before mailing food anywhere else, the working habit is the same one APHIS recommends for animal products: check that specific country's current food-import rule rather than assuming the last country you shipped to set the pattern.
SMKlog's checkout prices US domestic parcel labels only, so the international leg and its customs form are not something we sell. What we can price is the domestic run to a forwarder, a consolidator, or a traveler carrying the box out themselves.
Where these rules come from
- USPS, International Mail Manual, section 138, Perishable Matter — the nonmailable fresh-food rule at 138.4. Read 2026-08-30.
- USPS, International Mail Manual, section 131, Prohibited and Restricted Articles — the destination-country-governs principle at 131.32 and the return-or-seizure rule at 131.33. Read 2026-08-30.
- USPS, International Mail Manual, section 123, Customs Forms and Online Shipping Labels — the CN22/CP72 form names and the description and classification requirements at 123.11 and 123.711. Read 2026-08-30.
- USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, International Animal Product Export Regulations (IRegs) — the principle that each destination sets its own animal-product import requirements. Read 2026-08-30.
Destination-country food import rules change more often than US mailability rules do. Treat everything above as what these sources stated on the date shown, and check the specific destination's current rule before mailing anything perishable or animal-derived.
Mailing food abroad, answered
Can you mail food out of the country?
Shelf-stable, commercially packaged food generally can leave the US in the mail. Fresh food cannot: USPS states plainly that fruits, vegetables, fresh meats and other articles that easily decompose or cannot reasonably be expected to reach their destination without spoiling are nonmailable, a US-side rule that applies regardless of where the parcel is headed.
If USPS will accept it, does that mean the destination country will too?
No, and this is the part that catches senders out. USPS's own manual states that articles prohibited by the destination country are nonmailable regardless of US rules, and that a country may return or seize mail containing restricted articles whether or not that restriction was ever published by USPS. Clearing the US side of the mailbox is the easy half.
What does the customs form have to say about food contents?
More than a category name. USPS requires the CN22 (PS Form 2976) or CP72 (PS Form 2976-A) declaration to carry a detailed description of contents, including the quantity, net weight and value for each item, plus the item's Harmonized System, Harmonized Tariff Schedule or Schedule B code. 'Food gift' or 'snacks' is not a compliant description; 'sealed bag of roasted coffee beans, 12 oz' is.
Why does homemade food fare worse than a sealed, store-bought item?
Because most destination food-safety regimes are built around commercial packaging, labeling and traceability, none of which a homemade jar of jam carries. A factory-sealed product lists its own ingredients and a manufacturer of record; a home kitchen item asks an inspector to take the sender's word for it, which is the kind of ambiguity that gets a parcel held rather than passed.
How do I find out if a specific country accepts a specific food?
Look the country up before buying postage, rather than trying to memorize a list. Canada is a useful example of how granular this gets: Canada permits shelf-stable snack foods from the US at up to 20 kg per person but bars mailed or couriered meat outright, a distinction our Canada food guide covers in full. A different country draws that same line somewhere else entirely.