Importing fresh meat and seafood

[Adam]

Hi all!

Was just wondering if it is ok to bring fresh (frozen) meat and seafood into Bali in your luggage? All the info I can dig up off the net says that fruit and vegies is no go but doesn't mention anything about meat. My fiance goes ga ga over steak and seafood so I want to bring her over a nice big load of aussie rib eyes, fish fillets (WA Dhufish for those who know what I am talking about :wink: ) and a few lobsters to chuck in her freezer. All of it will have been vacuum packed. Balinese beef sucks and the seafood aint much better (ducking bullets from Jimbaran lovers already) so I'd like to be able to spoil her with some unique goodies for her tummy (and I cant wait to see the look on her face when she tries to tuck into a half kilo scotch fillet).

Kind regards
Adz

[froggy]

HMM, One of the best steaks I have ever had was the australian filet mignon w/eggs for breakfast at nuries in ubud! It was huge and priced right.... Oh and dont get me started on the fresh thursday night yellow fin tuna, grilled steaks or ? any other way you want... MMM, MMM

[max]

Adam,
A few years ago we took a heap of steak & sausages over cryovacked ( who need to spel anyho!!) in our cases.
We declared them on imigration forms & walked on thru
no one stopped us - but one packet got stabbed by something no one knew till 5 days later. We ate out that night !!!
Ours was taken over due to the amount of people in the villa & the fact that dad had carried over a few trips before a BBQ (now you can get them at Makro & Ace) He had trouble explaining that through customs!!!!

[bolli]

The answer is yes, as long as it is vacum sealed. Of course with the nothing over 100mls limit, it must be in your luggage, not as carry on. :D
But there is a shop in Seminyak that sells great Australian eye fillet and New Zealand lamb. :P

[Adam]

Righty o, thanks for the replies. I suspected that it shouldn't be a problem if cryovaced, u can buy a lot of meat and seafood at the Perth Airport to take away, but the price is obscene!

I'm sure there are many places to find good produce around the place (I'm a big fan of Planet Hollywood myself) but money can't buy the VERY best stuff, you've got to catch it yourself! :wink:

Froggy, have u ever tried yellowfin straight off the hook, still quivering as it slides down your throat? It sounds gross but I promise u you'll never put it near a griller again!

Adz

[bolli]

I would eat it raw Adam. :)
I only ever caught a really big fish once. A Kingfish I think it was, but I do know the pleasure in eating fish straight from the sea.
When are we going fishing? haha.

[Sanurian]

Hi Adam.

Was just wondering if it is ok to bring fresh (frozen) meat and seafood into Bali in your luggage?

Probably, but I wonder what for? It is possible to buy imported stuff like that here. The prices might be competitive, depending where you're from.

There are many many (too many?), fancy supermarkets these days in the south of Bali. You can get nearly everything!
So why bother trying to whack a frozen dead lobster in your luggage? Admittedly, a lot of lobsters these days ain't as big as they used to be. Especially here. That's life (and global warming stuff).

:D

[Adam]

Hi Sanurian and Bolli,

:lol: I see your point Sanurian, chucking a dead crustacean into ones luggage isn't everybodies cup of tea, but I have had wierder stuff than that in my bags before! If i was just bringing one or two crays etc it probably wouldn't be worth the effort, but I am talking about reasonable quantities of product (30ish cray tails, 5kg steak, 5kg dhufish fillets), enough to keep the missus in good protein supply and provide a few surprises from home for some expat friends. I realise that you can buy some good stuff over there, but you wont find what I want to bring and especially when it comes to seafood, I wont touch it unless i've caught it myself. Even the best quality purchased product aint even in the same ballpark as when you've banged your chest and killed a few poor creatures like a good alpha male should :)

Theres positive and negative sides to everything. A positive of being a marine biologist with a fiance in another country is the chance to kill a lot of sea creatures during work hours then a lot of spare time to kill even more sea creatures on the weekend. The negative is only one mouth to eat it :( But alas, the barter system is alive and well here in regional WA and there are plenty of farmers to play product swapsies with, hence get some nice steak too. My fiance Ani has developed a passion for fishing like me, though we never have much success in Bali so I'd like to show her whats available when she (hopefully!) comes over here. I'd also like to see how she goes at cooking it herself, she's a marvellous cook and I always love watching her work so I can learn the ways of authentic Indo cooking myself (minus the MSG, cant believe they use so much of it).

Bolli, I dont know what part of Oz u are from, but if you happen to be anywhere near Geraldton, for sure chase me up, i'll take ya fishin'!

Adz 8)

[Sanurian]

I hear you, Adam

So - now you want to smuggle 30 lobster tails, etc, in your luggage. If I were you, mate, I'd double-check my baggage allowance.

...I am talking about reasonable quantities of product (30ish cray tails, 5kg steak, 5kg dhufish fillets), enough to keep the missus in good protein supply and provide a few surprises from home for some expat friends...

Being an expat myself, can I qualify for one lobster tail that you caught with your bare hands? I'm game.

:D

[FreoGirl]

Hey Adam, if your luggage is over and you have to leave some stuff behind, I'll take the crays. :lol: