TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Prohibited food items into SXM?

I would like to bring a jar of homemade salsa to a friend in St. Martin and can’t find a list anywhere online about prohibited items. I have seen a lot of discussions about frozen meat, but can’t find anything that would relate to my item. Does anyone know of a reliable site or have firsthand knowledge of prohibited items? I plan to pack it in checked baggage. Thanks!

There should be no problem bringing your salsa to SXM as long as it’s in checked luggage. I tried to bring homemade jam once in my carry-on and I begged and pleaded with the scanner person. After much ado she finally waived me through, jam and all, but it was touch and go for a while.

From the St Maarten Government website. Open the image below.

bdeeley--looking at those rules, it seems to me that, so long as you are not importing it for commercial use, anything goes??

You have a weight limit of 10kg / 22lbs and all meat, poultry, fish has to be frozen upon arrival.

Has anyone ever been questioned on island regarding food they’ve brought from home? I know I haven’t been and there was a time, back in the day, when we would ship a good sized Coleman cooler packed with all kinds of goodies from home. This was when the only major food store was the Food Center and you never knew what they might or might not have.

Our girls weren’t really all that into island dining and then, as they got older and their friends and eventually their boyfriends frequently came with us, it was advantageous to our pocketbooks to dine in a few nights. Homemade lasagne, sausage and meat and chicken cordon bleu were major favorites and easy to prepare at the end of a busy island day. And the boys seemed to eat a lot more than teen-aged girls. A small frozen Turkey breast or ham made a lot of great lunches and the kids loved it. Of course the advent of so many excellent grocery stores made this unnecessary.

We have always brought frozen foods to SXM and never been questioned. Far beyond that weight limit. Some even not frozen. All in checked bags except for some miscellaneous goodies not frozen in carry-on.

We bring frozen meat all the time, in carry on, and never been asked anything about it in SXM. Usually it gets hand searched at TSA though. We put some frozen stuff in checked bags ONCE. That was the time when our bags didn't make it to SXM until three days after we did. Never again.

I’ve NEVER been questioned about the coolers we used to bring but the homemade jam was another story.

I had placed the glass jar in a tight fitting plastic bag and wrapped it securely and then placed a small dish towel around it, finally putting the whole thing in another plastic bag because I didn’t want to take any chances of it breaking and/or leaking into our carry-on.

The TSA lady was very nice but at first totally determined I would have to surrender the jam. She finally cane around after I offered to unwrap it and let her do a taste test. I don’t know if she didn’t like jam or was getting concerned because our TSA line was backing up but I was very appreciative in the end. And even more-so when we spread it on our fresh island croissants the next morning.

Oh bringing something back into the states is a whole 'nother situation. We are extremely careful about what we bring back into the US.

That's for sure. I had some sealed bottles of island spice in my carry on and TSA made us open every bottle to verify it was indeed spices.

a few years ago we were coming backing from the bahamas, where you actually clear US C&I at NAS...on the way to airport we had picked up some local caribbean food to eat on the plane...we were using GE, and didn't declare any food, since it was all cooked and were planning on eating it all on the plane, hence not actually bringing it into the US...we had the food in a plastic bag inside a tote bag...but while speaking to the agent, she must have noticed the smell of the food, and asked us to step into a back room...she then asked if we had food, which we admitted to and explained our intentions....she wasn't too happy about it, and gave us a stern lecture about how we need to declare ALL food...she said she could fine us several hundred dollars as well as revoke our GE....we apologized for our ignorance, and ultimately she let us go with the food

Once you have cleared C&I in NAS you are considered to be in the US

Thanks, bdeeley, for the screenshot of the government’s page. That’s what I was trying to find. No commercial use intended. I appreciate the feedback from all. I just didn’t want to risk anything that would delay our island time by even a few minutes!