Food Souvenirs From Vietnam: What You Can Bring Home (U.S., UK, Australia Rules)

Coffee and fish sauce are easy to buy in Vietnam and easy to lose at the border. The rules come from the country you fly into, and they differ more than most guides admit. This article draws on the official pages of USDA APHIS and CBP, GOV.UK, and Australia’s Department of Agriculture and Border Force. Import conditions change, so check them again before you fly. The UK rules below cover Great Britain; Northern Ireland has its own.

What You Can Bring Home From Vietnam at a Glance

United States: Declare Everything and Watch the Pork

CBP lists meats, fruits, vegetables, plants, and products made from animal or plant materials as restricted, because they can carry pests and disease. APHIS says travelers must declare all agricultural products, and that as long as you declare, you face no penalties, even if an item is refused.

Pork is the problem for Vietnamese sausage. The Federal Register records Vietnam being added to APHIS’s African swine fever list on 18 February 2019, with pork and pork products, including casings, restricted. USDA says fresh, frozen, and home-cooked pork cannot come in, while unopened, commercially processed, sealed products that have been treated may. A bag of lạp xưởng hun khói is a gamble. Check APHIS’s current status first.

APHIS’s page on coffee, tea, honey, nuts, and spices is friendlier. Roasted and green coffee are both fine in the continental U.S., and most dried spices are permitted. It advises against unpackaged lemongrass, which slows inspection.

Great Britain: No Meat, Limited Fish, Capped Honey

The GOV.UK page on meat, dairy, fish and animal products is blunt: from outside the EU you cannot bring meat or meat products or milk-based products. Honey is capped at 2 kg per person, and fish products at 20 kg, dried and cured included.

For plants, GOV.UK’s fruit and vegetable page requires a phytosanitary certificate for most produce. Exceptions include mango, banana, coconut, durian, and kumquat, as well as curry leaves and peeled, processed nuts. The overview page also lists cakes without fresh cream, biscuits, confectionery, and packaged soup, stocks, and flavourings as unrestricted.

Fish sauce is not named on these pages. It is a flavouring made from fish, so it should fit within the unrestricted and 20 kg categories, but I could not confirm that from the wording. For what a bottle contains, see our fish sauce nutrition facts.

Australia: Declare Everything, Even Noodles

Australia’s rule is the widest. The Department of Agriculture’s traveller guide says to declare food that is packaged, home-made, dried, or cooked, and lists rice, noodles, honey, herbs, spices, nuts, and all dried fruit. Declared goods carry no penalty under the Biosecurity Act, even if the item is not allowed in.

The department’s travel page says a false declaration can bring an infringement notice of up to AUD 6,260, and possible visa cancellation. The Border Force list of goods allows roasted coffee up to 10 kg, but not kopi luwak or civet, and plain tea in new packaging.

Skip the Weasel Coffee

Cà phê chồn (weasel coffee) is the souvenir most likely to disappoint. Local Vietnam says most of it sold in Vietnam is counterfeit, and that a stall price of a few dollars per 100 grams signals a fake. Genuine farmed civet coffee runs $100 to $300 a kilogram.

There is a welfare issue too. A World Animal Protection study of 16 plantations in Bali found civets kept in small wire-floored cages. Australia’s rules exclude civet coffee, and for a normal cup, see our comparison of Vietnamese coffee vs regular coffee.

How to Pack Nước Mắm and Other Liquids

The TSA liquids rule limits carry-on containers to 3.4 ounces (100 ml), and larger containers go in checked baggage. A 500 ml bottle of fish sauce goes in the suitcase.

I take nước mắm to friends abroad in its original glass bottle. I tape the cap, seal it in two zip bags, and wrap it in a sweater in the middle of a checked suitcase, well away from the edge. A bottle that leaks in a suitcase is hard to forget, and the smell stays in clothes for weeks.

Kelly Thuy — field notes, Sài Gòn

A sealed bottle also keeps well; see whether fish sauce goes bad before you buy a large one.

Declare Without Losing Your Trip

Keep the original packaging and receipts. APHIS asks for package labels or receipts as proof for meat products. In the U.S. and Australia, declaring protects you: the item may be seized, but you are not fined. GOV.UK warns that failing to declare banned items can lead to delays and prosecution. For what to eat before you shop, see the best food in Vietnam.

Frequently Asked Questions