Duty Free

Anyone who is flying back home has been warned about the serious consequences

Travellers flying home after a holiday are being warned not to bring back certain items, even if they were purchased at a duty free shop. According to government rules, people who disobey risk facing a £5,000 fine or possible prosecution.

In an alert posted on social media by the Animal and Plant Health Agency, Brits returning home should not bring sandwiches, cheese, cured meats, raw meats or milk into Great Britain. The agency also states that this applies regardless of whether it is packed or packaged, or whether it has been bought at duty free.

It explains: “Help protect UK farmers from the devastating threat of African swine fever (ASF) and foot and mouth disease (FMD) by not bringing back meat or dairy products from the EU into Great Britain in your personal luggage. This includes items like sandwiches, cheese, cured meats, raw meats or milk into Great Britain – regardless of whether it is packed or packaged or whether it has been bought at duty free.”

The government agency says it is illegal to bring in most meat and dairy products from abroad for personal use. This is to protect the UK from devastating livestock diseases circulating in Europe and beyond.

Most personal meat and dairy products are now banned from entry into Great Britain. You must not bring in sandwiches, meat (raw or cured, such as ham and salami), dairy (milk, yoghurt, cheese) and animal-derived products. That includes items bought from duty free.

If you declare banned food products to Border Force officers at customs, they’ll take them away and destroy them. If you do not declare banned food products, you could be fined up to £5,000 (in England) or you could be prosecuted. Border Force can take away (‘seize’) your products if they think:

• you’ve brought something into the country illegally
• you’ve brought in too much of a restricted product
• it’s been cross-contaminated, for example with blood from meat – if any clothing or a bag the item’s in is contaminated, it’ll be destroyed

These rules are in place to protect the UK from highly infectious viral diseases of livestock, such as foot and mouth disease and African swine fever. These viruses can persist in meat and dairy products for several months, posing a risk to susceptible animals.

Neither disease affects humans. Livestock diseases like foot and mouth and African swine fever have a devastating impact on animal welfare, farming, trade and affect food security

The Animal and Plant Health Agency reminds travellers: “If you break the rules, you are breaking the law. If you break the rules, you are risking our food and economic security. If you break the rules, you could be responsible for the death of millions of animals. If you are found with undeclared illegal meat and dairy products, you will have these confiscated and risk a hefty fine.”

What are you allowed to bring into Great Britain?

You can bring the following into Great Britain from any country without any restrictions:

• bread, but not sandwiches filled with meat or dairy products
• cakes without fresh cream
• biscuits
• chocolate and confectionery, but not those made with a lot of unprocessed dairy ingredients
• pasta and noodles, but not if mixed or filled with meat or meat products
• packaged soup, stocks and flavourings
• processed and packaged plant products, such as packaged salads and frozen plant material
• food supplements containing small amounts of an animal product, such as fish oil capsules

An expert said it was a common error

People who shop at duty free in airports are being told to think twice by an expert.

Holidaymakers could end up paying 10 times more than they need to for perfume if they buy it at the airport instead of planning ahead, according to an expert. While many travellers still assume airport duty-free offers the best deals, UK fragrance research site ScentVerdict said the departure lounge was one of the worst places to buy perfume because shoppers are rushed into making expensive decisions.

The biggest example is Tom Ford’s Lost Cherry. A 100ml bottle typically retails for around £300, but analysis by ScentVerdict found 14 UK dupe brands selling their own interpretation for a median price of just £30 – around one tenth of the cost.

Daniel Grimes, founder of ScentVerdict, said buying perfume at the airport was a mistake many travellers make.

He added: “The departure lounge is the worst place on Earth to buy perfume, because it is the one place where you are shopping against the clock. The ‘duty-free’ label does the persuading; you have not smelled the thing properly, and your flight is boarding.

“Decide before you fly, not at the gate. Take Tom Ford’s Lost Cherry as an example.

“It is around £300 at retail for 100ml; 14 different UK dupe houses sell their own version of it and the typical price is about £30 for the same 100ml, roughly a tenth.

“It will not be identical and you are not buying Tom Ford. But if what you want is that cherry-and-almond hit rather than the box it comes in, the maths is hard to argue with.”

The findings suggest dupe fragrances tend to sell for broadly the same price regardless of how expensive the original designer bottle is. Across 10 of Britain’s most popular fragrances, originals ranged from £89 to £310, while equivalent dupes typically sold for around £30.

The most extreme example remains Creed Aventus, one of the UK’s best-known men’s fragrances. A 100ml bottle retails for £310, while the median price of a comparable dupe is just £29.

Even fragrances with much lower retail prices show a similar pattern. Montblanc Explorer sells for around £89, while a typical dupe costs £25, suggesting dupe brands price according to what shoppers expect to pay rather than matching the original fragrance. Grimes said many people assume dupes simply undercut luxury brands by a percentage, but the figures suggest otherwise.

He continued: “That flat £30 is the story. The dupe houses aren’t pricing against the original at all. They charge what someone will pay for a dupe, and it barely shifts whether they’re copying an £89 Montblanc or a £310 Creed.

“The saving isn’t really a discount. It just tracks whatever the designer decided to charge.”

He added that shoppers should still compare prices before deciding, as some designer fragrances are regularly discounted outside airports, narrowing the gap between the original and a dupe.

Retail prices for the designer fragrances were checked at John Lewis, Boots and The Perfume Shop on July 17, 2026, while dupe prices represent the median price charged across brands selling equivalent fragrances at each bottle size.