Is it true FRUITS are banned to enter Thailand?

[arfandy]

Before covid pandemy, we always brought our tasty local fruits to enter Thailand via SVB or Don Muang airport. Some family and friends really enjoyed the fruits. Usually we took 7 - 10kg of freshly picked fruits, packed and wrapped nicely inside our XL luggage (no, not durian)

 

Recently i've been told that all FRUITS are banned to enter Thailand. Is this really happening?

 

Anything else banned products we should be aware of NOT to bring in? I.e dried meats, assorted dried fruits, pre-grilled fish/chicken, etc?

 

Thank you.

[Will B Good]

All sounds a bit like sour grapes to me.

 

 

[MJCM]

42 minutes ago, arfandy said:

to enter Thailand via SVB or Don Muang airport  

May I ask where that SVB airport is?

[arfandy]

On 11/26/2022 at 11:23 AM, MJCM said:

May I ask where that SVB airport is?

SVB = Suvhanabum Airport (spelling is surely wrong cant remember how it spells exactly, hence abbrev)

[tomazbodner]

12 minutes ago, arfandy said:

SVB = Suvhanabum Airport (spelling is surely wrong cant remember how it spells exactly, hence abbrev)

SVB is Sambava airport in Madagascar. Suvarnabhumi airport code is BKK... That out of the way, see this warning:

 

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thais-abroad-warned-not-to-buy-fresh-fruit-to-bring-home/

 

 

Thais travelling abroad have been warned not to bring fresh fruit back to Thailand, as they may face legal action.

Agriculture Department Director-General Rapeephat Chantarasriwong said that a number of Thais travelling abroad, particularly to Japan and South Korea, have brought fresh fruit, such as grapes and persimmon, back to the country without certificates indicating that it is free from pests and plant diseases.

He said that the plant quarantine checkpoints at the Suvarnabhumi airport have confiscated a lot of fresh fruit being brought back by Thai travellers, many of whom claimed they bought them according to advice offered by their guides.

This is against the law, because the fresh fruit does not have appropriate certification, he said, adding that most of the travellers were not arrested or charged, but that their fruit was seized and destroyed.

The penalties for illegally importing uncertified fruit are one year in prison and/or a fine of 20,000 baht, said the director-general.

[Puccini]

4 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

SVB is Sambava airport in Madagascar.

Thank you for pointing this out. I was about to ask the OP what he meant with SVB, which from the context of his post was obviously intended as a reference to a Thai airport but as such made no sense at all.

 

It is useful to know the IATA airport code of one's destination airport, as I once found out when checking in some years ago at BKK (Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport) for flights via Zurich to Lugano (Switzerland), which is about 15 km from where I live in Northern Italy. Out of the corner of my right eye I saw that the luggage tag being attached to my suitcase had LUX printed on it in large black letters and I could stop it just time before it was moved to the conveyer belt, and I asked the check-in staff to print a tag with LUG. Otherwise, the bag would have gone to Luxembourg.

[arfandy]

15 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

SVB is Sambava airport in Madagascar. Suvarnabhumi airport code is BKK... That out of the way, see this warning:

 

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thais-abroad-warned-not-to-buy-fresh-fruit-to-bring-home/

 

 

Thais travelling abroad have been warned not to bring fresh fruit back to Thailand, as they may face legal action.

Agriculture Department Director-General Rapeephat Chantarasriwong said that a number of Thais travelling abroad, particularly to Japan and South Korea, have brought fresh fruit, such as grapes and persimmon, back to the country without certificates indicating that it is free from pests and plant diseases.

He said that the plant quarantine checkpoints at the Suvarnabhumi airport have confiscated a lot of fresh fruit being brought back by Thai travellers, many of whom claimed they bought them according to advice offered by their guides.

This is against the law, because the fresh fruit does not have appropriate certification, he said, adding that most of the travellers were not arrested or charged, but that their fruit was seized and destroyed.

The penalties for illegally importing uncertified fruit are one year in prison and/or a fine of 20,000 baht, said the director-general.

Thanks but the article states and emphasize that Thai travellers who travelled abroad are not allowed to bring in freah fruits. Does this also apply to Foreigners who live NOT in Thailand but for purpose of visiting Thailand?

 

I dont see any statement pointing to foreign visitors entering Thailand, but i should assume foreigners are also not allowed?

[tomazbodner]

1 hour ago, arfandy said:

Thanks but the article states and emphasize that Thai travellers who travelled abroad are not allowed to bring in freah fruits. Does this also apply to Foreigners who live NOT in Thailand but for purpose of visiting Thailand?

 

I dont see any statement pointing to foreign visitors entering Thailand, but i should assume foreigners are also not allowed?

Your assumption would be correct. If you declare it, it will be confiscated, if you don't declare it, and your bags get inspected, it will be confiscated and you may be fined as well.

[phetphet]

As in many countries, plants, fruits, meats and other foodstuffs are prohibited unless irradiated or treated in some way. You would have to check the appropriate Thai regulations.

 

This is to prevent diseases, or introducing invasive foreign species that can upset the natural ecosystems.

 

Foot and Mouth disease in Europe and the spread of the Asian Hornet are two that come to mind as examples.