Bringing food into BVI’s

Newbie to forum
Traveling in 2 weeks 2 days for 10 day charter! Can we bring cooler on plane and clear customs into BVI’s with meat? Any issues? Traveling thru San Juan, overnight stay, flight on Intercarribean airlines to EIS.

Yes, its easy to travel with frozen meat into the BVI’s we carried a Prime Tenderloin and Steaks with us 2 weeks ago and walked right through. Some will tell you to buy beef there, and most everything is available in the bigger markets. You likely won’t see anything that grades better than choice and most seems like select. If your looking for lamb or goat, buy it there... Freeze it hard, stock with dry ice the day before then top off with more dry ice before you leave. TSA says 5 pound limit on dry ice. Be sure you beat them to the punch and tell them five pounds in there. I carry in a YETi soft cooler and everything is still frozen hard when we get to the boat the next morning. Have fun!

Couldn't be more wrong. USDA Prime beef at Riteway. I buy it all the time. If you're bringing meat, leave the USDA label on and bring receipts in case you get a customs officer that wants to confirm value for duty purposes.

I would not suggest lying to TSA. 5 lbs should be enough dry ice. If it isn't, don't bring food.

Standard duty is 10%. I claim it and they charge me about 25% of the time.

WE have been going to the BVI starting early 70s. We bring a cheap collman cooler filled with meat as luggage. No problem. Vacuum seal the meat and freeze it. Load the cooler and place a tsa strap to
seal it. This way if they want to open it they can and seal it back. Leaving Chicago very early in the morning and get to the boat about 6 pm. All meat is still rock Hard. WE fly business or first class so we can have
the total weight up to 70 pounds. No problems with duty. They charge us about 10 to 20. dollars. We are from Chicago area and can get much better meats at a lot less money, and not have to worry if they are
out of meats we want when we go shopping. As to the cooler we sue it for vacation and leave it there.

Polar Bear (24 can)cooler is way to go . Do search and you will see many posts on this. Dry Ice is allowed, but not needed, even for 24 hour transit times.

Wes is spot on. Polar Bear is the way to go. If you search this forum I bet you can find a discount code to get half off your orders from Polar Bear.

Couldn't be more wrong. USDA Prime beef at Riteway. I buy it all the time. If you're bringing meat, leave the USDA label on and bring receipts in case you get a customs officer that wants to confirm value for duty purposes.

I would not suggest lying to TSA. 5 lbs should be enough dry ice. If it isn't, don't bring food.[/quote]


Jason, I’m fascinated with your knowledge of my experience. My inspection of labels at Riteway shows that is indeed marked prime. But I must have missed the part about USDA Prime. The first trip I took I bought “prime” at Riteway and was very disappointed in the quality for the money I spent. I guess I’m used to Colorado and Nebraska corn fattened beef that is highly marbled and actually grades Prime by a USDA inspector. Beef that is aged, and amazingly tender and flavorful. Was it good? sure.... It just wasn’t great... It was lean and tasted more like grass fed... My comment about dry ice was nearly one about knowing the regulation and making sure that perishable meat is frozen very hard before you head to the airport... I have recently been In a TSA line where I was asked to remove the contents of my soft cooler to show what was was in there. (Kansas City TSA 16 days ago) I complied and was told that I had too much dry ice and had to leave it behind. After emptying the cooler and pointing out to the supervisor that the package of dry ice was labeled 5 lbs and there was only one in the cooler, he allowed me to repack and go on to my gate. In my limited travels to the BVI’S I have never seen a whole packer Prime brisket, or a Prime tenderloin, or 1 1/2 thick prime ribeyes, nor a complete Prime Rib in any grade. Likely because they are not available there... Ill be back soon and I’ll look for the USDA PRIME badge on meat in Riteway... My luck finding it hasn’t been too good I guess...

We always bring a soft sided cooler as checked luggage (in another bag for protection). Usually has cheese, burgers, chili, frozen soup, hot dogs, bacon, ham, chocolate for s’mores,.... Maybe a box of wine. We also order a bunch from local provisioning. The bag also has a liberal supply of sun block and anything sharp or liquid. Just trying to make life easier for the cook. So far no problems bringing it into the BVI.

Jason, I’m fascinated with your knowledge of my experience. My inspection of labels at Riteway shows that is indeed marked prime. But I must have missed the part about USDA Prime. The first trip I took I bought “prime” at Riteway and was very disappointed in the quality for the money I spent. I guess I’m used to Colorado and Nebraska corn fattened beef that is highly marbled and actually grades Prime by a USDA inspector. Beef that is aged, and amazingly tender and flavorful. Was it good? sure.... It just wasn’t great... It was lean and tasted more like grass fed... My comment about dry ice was nearly one about knowing the regulation and making sure that perishable meat is frozen very hard before you head to the airport... I have recently been In a TSA line where I was asked to remove the contents of my soft cooler to show what was was in there. (Kansas City TSA 16 days ago) I complied and was told that I had too much dry ice and had to leave it behind. After emptying the cooler and pointing out to the supervisor that the package of dry ice was labeled 5 lbs and there was only one in the cooler, he allowed me to repack and go on to my gate. In my limited travels to the BVI’S I have never seen a whole packer Prime brisket, or a Prime tenderloin, or 1 1/2 thick prime ribeyes, nor a complete Prime Rib in any grade. Likely because they are not available there... Ill be back soon and I’ll look for the USDA PRIME badge on meat in Riteway... My luck finding it hasn’t been too good I guess...[/quote]

Sorry, no offense intended. I was just pointing out that the choice grades are not the highest available.

The guys that work the meat section at Riteway are very helpful. If you don't see something you're looking for, there is a small phone near the door to the back room and you can use it to call into the back. They can bring out meats if what you want isn't in the coolers. I have had luck getting them to bring me thicker cut filets.