Thanksgiving Foods You Can Take On A Plane In 2022: TSA

BALTIMORE, MD — Airports from Baltimore to DC to New York will be stuffed with fliers Thanksgiving week, and some of those passengers are going to bring turkey, stuffing, pies, gravy, cranberry sauce, and other holiday fixings with them.

Before you agree to bring a family favorite food item to a Thanksgiving gathering, it's important to think about how you're planning to transport it, says Lisa Farbstein, spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions. Most foods can be carried through a TSA checkpoint, but there are some items that will need to be transported in checked baggage.

Here's some food for thought. If it's a solid item, then it can go through a checkpoint. 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.

Food items often need some additional security screening, so it is best to place those items in an easily accessible location of the carry-on when packing them and then removing those items from your bag and placing them in a bin for screening at the checkpoint.

Travelers who are unsure if a food item should be packed in a carry-on or checked bag can check the TSA homepage, which has a "What can I bring?" feature. Type in the item and find out if you can carry it through a checkpoint or if it should be checked.

Another option is for passengers to tweet their question to @AskTSA to find out how best to travel with a specific food item or inquire via Facebook Messenger.

Here are the most commonly asked questions about which food items are allowed through a TSA checkpoint and which ones need to be packed in checked baggage. If you need to keep items cold during your trip, ice packs are permissible, but they must be frozen solid and not melted when they go through security screening.

Find holiday food safety tips from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which also has tips for safely handling food while traveling.

Thanksgiving foods that can be carried through a TSA checkpoint include:

• 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 and 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 include:

• 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.