Can I Carry Dry Fruits and Indian Snacks on an International Flight?

What the airlines say

IndiGo's dangerous-goods table is the friendlier read. Its food rows, as published:

• "Dry foods": allowed in cabin and checked baggage.
• "Sweets": allowed in both, with the condition "(Dry)".
• "Oily foods": not allowed in cabin or checked.
• "Pickles": cabin no, checked yes, "if properly packed prevent from damage".
• "Ghee": cabin no, checked yes.
• "Raw Foods (Rice/Pulses)": cabin no, checked yes.

Air India's restricted-baggage page does not name dry fruits, nuts or snack mixes anywhere. Unlisted is not permission; it only means no row prohibits them, and the officer at the checkpoint decides on the day. What the page does say about Indian food staples:

• "All spices in powder/physical form including chilly": cabin no, check-in yes.
• "Ghee (clarified butter)/cooking oil": allowed on both; cabin under the LAG liquid restrictions, checked baggage limited to 5 kg/l per passenger.
• "Pickle": allowed on both; chilly pickle is check-in only.
• Copra and crushed dry coconut: prohibited.

One cabin rule covers everything oily or pasty regardless of carrier: at Indian airport security, liquids, aerosols and gels (the LAG rule, whose examples on Air India's page include oils) must be in containers of 100 ml or less, all fitting one 1-litre transparent resealable bag. A dry snack is not a LAG. A jar of anything floating in oil is.

The stricter test: customs at the destination

The airline decides what flies; the destination country decides what enters. Three of the four destinations Indian travellers ask about most, the US, Australia and New Zealand, require declaring food on arrival; Great Britain controls food through unrestricted and restricted lists rather than a declaration line. Either way, "the airline let me carry it" is not an argument any of them accepts.

United States

US Customs and Border Protection: "All agriculture items must be declared and are subject to inspection by a CBP Agriculture Specialist at ports of entry." Declared items in non-commercial quantities that turn out to be prohibited can be abandoned at the port of entry. Undeclared prohibited items are confiscated and can draw a civil penalty. CBP lists meats, fresh fruits and vegetables, plants, seeds and soil among the prohibited or restricted categories.

Australia

Australia is the strictest read on this list. By law, you must declare if you are carrying certain food, plant material or animal products; a biosecurity officer assesses declared goods on arrival.

On nuts, the Department of Agriculture says only approved species are allowed in, and commercially prepared and packaged approved nuts qualify if they are blanched, roasted, fried or boiled; shelled and tightly vacuum sealed; or packed in small confectionery tins sealed under vacuum. Permitted raw nuts must arrive with a phytosanitary certificate and can face mandatory treatment; all nuts must be declared and may be inspected.

The part that catches Indian kitchens: cumin, coriander and fennel seeds and dried chillies/capsicum are not permitted and will be destroyed, under the khapra beetle urgent actions, unless a listed exclusion applies. Some dried, ground spices may be allowed under specific BICON import conditions. Goods that fail are treated, exported or destroyed at the importer's expense.

New Zealand

Same shape, its own paperwork: declare food on the NZ Traveller Declaration, expect a biosecurity inspection on arrival, and MPI states clearly that clearance is not guaranteed. Fresh fruit and vegetables are not allowed at all. Dried and highly processed plant products are mostly allowed if they are identifiable, cannot be grown from the product, and are clean of contamination. Unground tea, herbs, roots and spices must be commercially manufactured and packaged, in their original unopened packaging, which quietly rules out the dabba of home-blended masala.

United Kingdom

Great Britain allows a personal-use list from any country without restriction: bread, cakes without fresh cream, biscuits, chocolate and confectionery (not made with a lot of unprocessed dairy), pasta and noodles not mixed or filled with meat, packaged soups, stocks and flavourings, and processed and packaged plant products. GOV.UK's restricted side covers meat, dairy, fish and other animal products, along with fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds; the exact rule for those depends on the country you are arriving from, so check your specific item and origin on GOV.UK before you fly.

So what goes in the bag

• Commercially sealed, labelled packs travel best: Australia and New Zealand's conditions are written around commercially prepared and packaged food. A homemade mix has no such category to qualify under; declare it and let the officer decide.
• On IndiGo, dry snacks and dry sweets are explicitly fine in either bag; oily foods are not carried at all. On Air India, spice powders, ghee beyond the cabin liquid limit, and chilly pickle all belong in checked baggage.
• For Australia, leave the cumin, coriander, fennel and dried chillies at home. For New Zealand, skip fresh produce and keep unground spices in unopened commercial packaging. For the US, Australia and New Zealand: declare the food. For Great Britain: check the restricted list for your exact item and origin before you pack.

Two jars deserve their own deep dives: homemade pickle on an international flight and ghee or oil in checked luggage.

Sources

• IndiGo: dangerous goods policy
• Air India: restricted baggage
• US CBP: bringing food into the U.S.
• Australia DAFF: bringing or mailing goods to Australia
• New Zealand MPI: bringing food to NZ
• GOV.UK: bringing food into Great Britain