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For context, Jamaican Patties can be thought of as an empanada; baked pastries with a little meat filling (roughly like 20% to 35% meat to pastry ratio).

I know to the US, I can bring it in with no hassle, however, my main thoughts are can I bring it into the Netherlands? I have read a bit about the customs for bringing in meat products but there's so much ambiguity.

What I feel from reading that it's up to the discretion of the customs officer to believe if it is a threat or not. If it's baked and frozen, is it still allowed?

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    Does this answer your question? Can I bring cooked meat into The Netherlands?
    – Midavalo
    Sep 27, 2022 at 2:16
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    You might want to double check the "no hassle to bring into the US" statement too.
    – user2705196
    Sep 27, 2022 at 13:22
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    You can't bring it into the US either: ask.usda.gov/s/article/Can-I-bring-meat-or-poultry-into-the-US: "If any meat is used in preparing a product, it is prohibited."
    – Flydog57
    Sep 27, 2022 at 16:17
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    @user2705196: sounds like it's no hassle if you don't get caught. But the same applies to anything you bring over the border.
    – Quora Feans
    Sep 27, 2022 at 16:27
  • Bringing meat products into the US is definitely not no-hassle. Even a sandwich with meat for personal consumption during travel is verboten.
    – Spehro Pefhany
    Sep 28, 2022 at 5:27

1 Answer 1

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According to the Dutch government's website:

If you are travelling from a country outside the EU, you cannot bring meat and dairy products (including eggs) into the Netherlands. You may bring in up to 20 kilos of fish, however. But the fish cannot be an endangered species. It must always have been cleaned and the innards must have been removed.

So there is no ambiguity and your import will not be allowed.

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    so the fact that it contains just a bit of cooked meat makes it not allowed?
    – penguin
    Sep 27, 2022 at 1:19
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    @penguin As the answer states, meat is not allowed. Whether baked or frozen makes no difference without the relevant health declaration. See also this link from the duplicate question belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/bldcontenten/belastingdienst/…
    – Traveller
    Sep 27, 2022 at 8:42
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    @Traveller whether baked or frozen or incorporated into a pastry filling. But if you keep reading then you start to see exceptions: that sweets containing animal products are excepted, for example, and that it may be possible to import meat with a health certificate.
    – phoog
    Sep 27, 2022 at 9:56
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    @phoog The only exceptions for any type of meat coming from outside the EU (and six other countries in Europe) are infant food and (medical) pet food. See paragraph 4.1 and 4.2 bullet a and b in this document (in Dutch). Any not recognizable 'meat' in sweets would refer to gelatin and colorings and the like, not cooked meat in a pastry
    – Berend
    Sep 27, 2022 at 10:11
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    @penguin : So there is no ambiguity and your import will not be allowed.
    – Fattie
    Sep 27, 2022 at 12:13

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