Full List: Food Items and Plant Products Travellers Cannot Bring or Post to New Zealand

• New Zealand maintains a strict biosecurity regime that bans a wide range of food and plant items from entering the country
• Travellers and online shoppers risk falling foul of regulations covering everything from fresh fruit and pork products to beekeeping equipment
• The banned items span several categories, including fungi, grains, seeds, fresh vegetables, and certain plant materials

New Zealand enforces some of the world's most rigorous biosecurity rules, and a comprehensive list of prohibited goods makes clear just how seriously the country guards its borders against biological risk.

Whether you are travelling to New Zealand or attempting to send a parcel there, a wide range of everyday products is barred from entry, and the restrictions go far beyond what most people might expect.

Food and Animal Products That Are Banned

All fresh fruit and vegetables are prohibited, as are several specific processed or derived products.

Items such as breadfruit, jackfruit, monk fruit, pink pepper, and wolfberry (also known as Black Goji) cannot be brought into the country.

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Frozen seaweed and algae, pasta salad, sprouting legumes, Puy lentils, and frozen unprocessed citrus peel and leaves are also on the restricted list.

Pork products of any kind are completely barred, including pork floss and sausage casings made from animal intestines.

Whole egg products, fresh or dry bird's nest, non-Australian emu oil products, and non-marine annelids such as worms and leeches are equally prohibited.

Certain fungi are restricted as well, with only a specific list of approved frozen species permitted; truffles and woody fungi are banned outright.

Grains and seeds come under heavy scrutiny. Whole grains and seeds not classified as "Basic" in New Zealand's Plants Biosecurity Index (PBI) cannot enter, nor can frozen unprocessed grains and seeds, whole tonka beans, fresh vanilla pods, or soups containing seeds.

The poppy seed variety Papaver somniferum is explicitly banned under both the grains and vegetables categories.

Plants, Bee Products, and Hemp Rules

Beekeeping equipment that has been used, including smokers and bee suits, is not permitted. Neither is unrefined beeswax, honeycomb sheets, foundation beeswax, or any syrup containing honey.

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Fresh flowers and fresh plants are barred, alongside bark, coconut shells used as fertiliser or growing media, and unprocessed willow, cane, bamboo, or rattan. Hemp oil that contains tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is also prohibited.

Plant and seed species listed on the Plants Biosecurity Index as "Entry Prohibited," "Requires Assessment," or "Suspended," as well as any species not listed on the index at all, cannot be imported.

New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries oversees these biosecurity requirements, which are designed to protect the country's agricultural sector and unique natural environment from pests and diseases.

Travellers and senders are advised to check the full Plants Biosecurity Index and the official biosecurity guidelines before attempting to bring or post any food, plant, or animal product into the country.

Australia lists food items not allowed when entering

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh also reported that Australia had published a list of items banned at its border, covering several food categories and certain non-food goods

Fresh fruit, homemade meals, and food collected during flights or sea voyages are among the restricted items

Travellers who fail to declare or dispose of prohibited items at the border risk fines and other penalties under Australian law

Source: YEN.com.gh