If you want to fly home with your favorite Thanksgiving dish and don’t know if you should pack it or not, here are a few tips from the TSA on getting through security.
Can you take a green bean casserole through airport security checkpoints? What about a turkey or ham?
With more than 4.5 million Americans expected to fly during the Thanksgiving holiday, many are wondering which foods are allowed as carry-ons and which should be checked.
“If it’s a solid item, then it can go through a checkpoint,” the Transportation Security Administration said in a release. “However, if you can spill it, spread it, spray it, pump it or pour it, and it’s larger than 3.4 ounces, then it should go in a checked bag.”
TSA officials said most foods can be carried through security checkpoints, but some will need to be carefully packed and checked in baggage.
What about cakes? Yes, according to the TSA’s Twitter account.
Here’s a complete list of Thanksgiving dishes that can go through TSA and which should be checked.
Thanksgiving foods that can be carried through a TSA checkpoint
- Baked goods. Homemade or store-bought pies, cakes, cookies, brownies and other sweet treats.
- Meats. Turkey, chicken, ham, steak. Frozen, cooked or uncooked.
- Stuffing. Cooked, uncooked, in a box or in a bag.
- Casseroles. Traditional green beans and onion straws or something more exotic.
- Mac ‘n Cheese. Cooked in a pan or traveling with the ingredients to cook it at your destination.
- Fresh vegetables. Potatoes, yams, broccoli, green beans, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, beets, radishes, carrots, squash, greens.
- Fresh fruit. Apples, pears, pineapple, lemons, limes, cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, kiwi.
- Candy.
- Spices.
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Thanksgiving foods that should be carefully packed with your checked baggage
- Cranberry sauce. Homemade or canned are spreadable, so check them.
- Gravy. Homemade or in a jar/can.
- Wine, champagne, sparking apple cider.
- Canned fruit or vegetables. It’s got liquid in the can, so check them.
- Preserves, jams and jellies. They are spreadable, so best to check them.
- Maple syrup.
For food items not on the list, travelers can check the TSA’s “What can I bring?” tool, tweet their question to @AskTSA or inquire through Facebook Messenger.
Click here for more tips and guidelines for traveling safely with food this holiday season.
