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.
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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.
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.
