The dos and don’ts of Christmas food in your suitcase

Make sure you don’t get stung at the border with disallowed Christmas food in your suitcase

As the colder weather hits, a lot of people’s minds turn to the festive season and visiting loved ones. Christmas will soon be upon us and for many, one of the best things about Noel is the food! If you are travelling back to the UK or have friends and family coming to visit you in Spain, the British Embassy has published some links to help you bring the right Christmas food in your suitcase.

The rules around what is allowed to travel across the borders with you changed at the beginning of 2021 with the UK’s departure from the EU. Now third country rules apply and this means differences between last Christmas and this. 

If you are headed to the UK for a festive visit, you can take Spanish cakes (without fresh cream), sweets and biscuits with you without restriction, as long as they are for personal use and not to sell. Chocolate is ok too if not made with lots of unprocessed dairy products. So your Turron is good to go! So too is delicious Spanish honey, dates, chorizo, and Jamon. See the rest of the advice for the UK here – https://www.gov.uk/bringing-food-into-great-britain

If you have loved ones coming to visit in Spain, or are heading back after a jolly good time, here are the restrictions for the UK to Spain leg of the journey – https://tinyurl.com/pm9s66v6 and unfortunately they are a lot stricter. No meat or dairy products can be taken this way across the borders so even your Christmas pudding may be out of bounds if it contains suet! You can bring a small amount of fruit and vegetables with you, as well as eggs and honey, but a lot of Christmas items will be off the Spanish table if you try to bring them from the UK. This included Christmas crackers as the bang inside is not allowed!

Don’t forget though, that many Spanish supermarkets do now stock British goods, so you may be able to pick up things you really cannot do without from there. Find out the Spanish alternatives and you may find a new favourite! Merry Christmas!

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