In short: according to the Israel Tax Authority, anyone entering Israel may bring up to 3 kg of food in total tax free, provided there is no more than 1 kg of each type of food. This is part of the $200 exemption, and the same rule appears in the customs guide for tourists. Fruit, vegetables, seeds and seedlings need a permit from the Plant Protection and Inspection Services of the Ministry of Agriculture, and the permit exemption in the regulations does not apply to goods a traveller brings in hand baggage. Imported meat needs a kashrut certificate under the Meat and Meat Products Law. The figures of 15 kg per shipment and 5 kg per food item belong to personal import of food in a parcel.
In Your Luggage: How Much Food Enters Tax Free
In its customs guides for travellers, the Israel Tax Authority lists the items you may bring tax free and take through the green channel. One of them is items for personal use or as a gift worth up to $200, for every entrant from the age of 2. Within that amount you may bring food up to 3 kg in total, provided the weight of each type of food does not exceed 1 kg.
The exemption is personal to each entrant, and the allowances of several travellers cannot be combined. The same food rule appears both in the guide for returning Israeli residents and in the guide for tourists and foreign residents.
The guide notes that it does not constitute approval regarding conditions and restrictions set by other authorities. In the same guide, plants and seeds appear on the list of items whose import requires approval, and the competent authority for them is the Ministry of Agriculture.
Fruit, Vegetables, Seeds and Plants
Under the Plant Protection (Import of Plants, Plant Products, Pests and Regulated Articles) Regulations of 2009, no person may import a plant, plant product, pest or regulated article except under a written permit from the director of the Plant Protection and Inspection Services at the Ministry of Agriculture. The regulations exempt some goods from the permit, but the exemption expressly excludes "goods imported in the hand baggage of a passenger".
What counts as a plant and a plant product, under the Plant Protection Law of 1956:
- A plant includes its fruit and any part of the plant.
- A plant product is processed or unprocessed material that originates from a plant, except liquids and oils, food products that have been sterilised, pasteurised, fermented or salted, and food products that have undergone another industrial process that, by order of the Minister of Agriculture, destroys pests. The regulations also exclude products frozen below minus 18°C, or roasted above 185°C for at least 15 minutes.
- A regulated article includes containers and packing material for plants, as well as any device, soil, manure or other material intended for or used in growing, harvesting, storing or transporting plants.
The Ministry of Agriculture explains that bringing in plant produce without inspection exposes Israel's agriculture and environment to new pests and diseases, with consequences that may be irreversible. According to the Ministry, plant protection inspectors check agricultural produce in the personal luggage of travellers and tourists as well, not only in commercial shipments.
For approval for plants and seeds, the customs guide refers to the Plant Protection Services of the Ministry of Agriculture, on 03-9681587.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2022 1,259 travellers were caught at Ben Gurion trying to bring in agricultural produce without the required approvals, together with more than 4.5 tonnes of plant produce. About half of the seizures were fruit such as apples, bananas, strawberries and berries, and pineapple, yam tubers, tomatoes, cucumbers, hot peppers, seeds and seedlings were seized as well.
That year the Ministry placed bins in the baggage claim area where travellers can throw away plant material of their own accord, and according to the Ministry about 15% of the plant material destroyed that year was thrown into them.
Meat
The Meat and Meat Products Law of 1994 provides that no person may import meat unless a kashrut certificate has been received for it. A kashrut certificate under the law is a certificate for imported meat issued by the Council of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, or by someone it has authorised. "Meat" in the law is every kind of meat and meat product fit for human consumption, including poultry.
Food in a Parcel from Abroad: Personal Import
Personal import of food has its own rules, in the Personal Import Order of 2019 and in a procedure of the National Food Service at the Ministry of Health (procedure 05-008 of 2017). The quantities in the order are set per shipment:
- Up to 5 kg of any given food, and no more than 15 kg of food in each shipment;
- Spices and seasoning powders: up to 500 g of each spice, and no more than 5 kg in each shipment;
- Saffron: up to 20 g in each shipment;
- Dietary supplements: up to 5 items of the same supplement, and no more than 15 items in each shipment;
- No more than 6 shipments containing food in a calendar year;
- The food was packed and labelled by the manufacturer before it was marketed, so that it can be identified as food. In the Ministry of Health procedure: pre-packaged and labelled in the language of origin.
The order does not apply to food containing meat, except canned goods containing meat; to food containing milk, except hard cheeses, preserved dairy products, milk powders, and sweets and beverages containing milk; or to infant and toddler formula. What the order does not cover falls under the regular import rules. In the Ministry of Health procedure, hard cheeses are allowed up to 5 kg in total, and canned goods containing fish are allowed in the quantities above.
When food is received as a personal import, of any value, the recipient signs a declaration that the food meets the conditions of the order and is for personal or family use, and the declaration is submitted to Israel Post or to the shipping or courier company.
At Ben Gurion: the Green and Red Channels
At Ben Gurion, after collecting your luggage, the exit from the passenger hall is through the green channel or the red channel. According to the Tax Authority, going through the green channel counts as a declaration that the traveller carries only tax-exempt items and quantities. Anyone bringing items whose value or quantity exceeds the exemption has to go through the red channel and declare, and if in doubt, the Tax Authority recommends the red channel.
According to the Tax Authority, importing items or quantities not in line with the rules is an offence, which can lead to an administrative fine or prosecution, and customs may confiscate the goods. The plant protection regulations authorise a plant protection inspector to order the destruction of a shipment that does not comply with them.
This article is general information only. Where it conflicts with the law, the law prevails.
Sources: Israel Tax Authority (customs guide for returning travellers and customs guide for tourists), Ministry of Agriculture (Plant Protection and Inspection Services), Ministry of Health (National Food Service), the Plant Protection Law and the plant import regulations, the Meat and Meat Products Law, the Personal Import Order.
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