Bushwalk Australia

I am about to head to NZ and was just wondering about taking repackaged food into NZ. It says you can take commercial food into the country but what I am wondering is it ok to repack it into usable portion or should I do that when I get there? Any help from previous experience would be appreciated


Thanks



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If you repack it into non-commercial packaging, how are officials to know it was originally commercially prepared and packed? Because you stated it was?
Leave the repacking till you arrive in NZ.

When you get there.

Reason: They cannot tell if the food was commercial or home made unless it is sealed in the commercial packaging.
And they probably won't take your word for it.

That’s what I thought but it is a question worth asking.


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the border officials can be ruthless if you stray from the rules. there's a plethora of diseases and pests NZ doesnt have that the rest of the world does that they want to keep out.

What exactly are the rules?

Before visiting last year I tried my best to figure that out but couldn't really get to the bottom of it. We took a whole bunch of stuff, including home prepared and dehydrated stuff in ziplock bags. They looked at it all and only objected to one item, one that fortunately we could purchase at a supermarket (dehydrated peas). Why that and not the any of the other stuff? It seemed arbitrary.

They were actually a lot more interested in our boots.

I emailed the NZ Customs (or whatever they're called) when I travelled there in October 2015.
In the email, I described exactly (including ingredients) what I was proposing to bring in and asked if they could advise what would and wouldn't be acceptable.
All the meals were cooked and dehydrated by me. They emailed back saying what I described was fine but don't bring in x, y or z (eg meat, fish eggs etc).
I carried their email response with me and didn't have any problems. This was a couple of years ago so things may have changed, but if you email well in advance you should be ok (assuming of course, the food you're carrying is what you say it is). I had things like dried pasta sauce, veggie curry, then bought the fresh stuff in NZ. Hope this helps.