"jmcquown" > wrote in
:

>
> You may if you wish
>
> Did I ever tell you I tried to send the 3 minute grits to Australia?
> I paid about a dollar USD for the one pound box of white grits. I
> paid about $11 to ship it. When it got to Australia they quarrantined
> it because it was a grain product.

Not all grain products are prohibited/restricted, but corn grits are.

They told the woman it would cost
> $40 to get it out of quarrantine. She declined and wrote me a very
> nice letter explaining why she couldn't afford a $40 box of grits.

The fee would have been to return the product to the sender, not get it
out of quarantine (so covers handling, postage etc). The only way to
import grits in to Australia is with an import permit - an involved and
expensive process, which an individual wouldn't want to go through for
one box of grits.
>
> All in all, that was the most expensive box of grits I've ever
> purchased, and the guys in customs probably tried them. LOL

If you want to send anything to someone here that's of plant, animal or
microbial origin <g> (so a lot of foodstuffs) it's best to check the
conditions first to save disappointment. You can always ask me if you
like - happy to help.

Customs and quarantine are completely separate departments here, though,
and the guys in Customs are unlikely to have even looked at the grits,
other than when the parcel went through the x-ray. As far as anyone
trying them - I know you're just making a joke, but it gets really
tiresome when people accuse you of eating their food. We do see some nice
looking food when we're inspecting parcels, especially at Christmas time,
but most of the food we see I wouldn't want to try! even if it wasn't
worth more than my job is worth.

Saw a block of Hershey's chocolate in a parcel the other day - a 5lb
(2.27kg) block!
--
Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia