Liquids and batteries
Food on a plane: what passes security, what goes in the hold
For anything you can pour or spread, the size of the jar decides: type it in to see whether it passes a US checkpoint or belongs in your checked bag.
Can I take this liquid through security?
101 ml per container
Not in carry-on: pack it in a checked bag
| Limit per container | 3.4 oz (100 ml) |
| Bag | quart-sized bag, one per passenger |
| Your containers | 4 × 101 ml |
Larger liquids go in checked bags. Medicines, baby formula, breast milk and baby food over 3.4 oz are allowed in carry-on and need not fit in the bag.
Solid food goes through airport security in the US and the UK without a size limit: sandwiches, fruit, crackers, cooked meals in a box, a slice of cake. The line falls between solid and liquid, and many foods sit on the liquid side without looking like drinks. Peanut butter, jam, honey, hummus, yogurt, soup, sauces and soft dips are treated as liquids, so at a US checkpoint each jar must hold 3.4 ounces or less and fit in the quart-sized bag. At a UK airport the cap is 100 ml per container, or 2 litres at the airports that state it. Baby food and baby milk are exempt in both countries. Alcohol has its own TSA rule: in a checked bag, drinks of 24% to 70% alcohol are limited to 5 liters per passenger in unopened retail packaging, drinks above 70% are banned, and in the cabin only miniatures within the liquids rule pass.
Can this bottle go in a checked bag?
In a checked bag
Allowed
| Rule that applies | 24–70%: 5 liters max, unopened retail packaging |
| Carry-on | only 3.4 oz bottles in the quart bag |
TSA rule; your airline and your destination’s customs allowance may be stricter.
Sizes, fees and rules read by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we check
Solid or liquid: the only question at the checkpoint
Security officers do not sort food by type, they sort it by texture. If it keeps its shape, it is solid and travels in the cabin in any quantity. If it can be poured, spread, pumped or spooned, it falls under the liquids rule, whatever it is called on the label. A loaf of bread passes; the jar of jam to go with it is a liquid. A wedge of hard cheese is solid; a tub of cream cheese is not.
| Food | Treated as | US carry-on (TSA) | UK hand luggage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sandwich, wrap, burger | solid | yes | yes |
| Fresh fruit, raw vegetables | solid | yes | yes |
| Bread, cookies, cake, chocolate bar | solid | yes | yes |
| Peanut butter, jam, honey, chocolate spread | liquid | 3.4 oz jar or smaller | 100 ml, or 2 litres where the airport allows |
| Hummus, yogurt, soft dips, sauces | liquid | 3.4 oz or smaller | 100 ml, or 2 litres where the airport allows |
| Soup, gravy, salad dressing | liquid | 3.4 oz or smaller | 100 ml, or 2 litres where the airport allows |
| Baby food, baby milk, formula | exempt | yes, declared at screening | yes, in larger amounts |
The size of the container is what counts, not how much is left in it, so a half-eaten 12 ounce jar of honey is still a 12 ounce jar. When in doubt, move the item to the checked bag, or buy it after the checkpoint, where nothing you purchase is screened against the cabin rule.
Alcohol: the numbers in the hold
The TSA food page gives three bands, by strength. Drinks of 24% alcohol or less, which covers beer and almost all wine, have no TSA quantity limit in checked bags. Drinks between 24% and 70% alcohol, which covers most spirits and liqueurs, are limited to 5 liters per passenger in the hold, in unopened retail packaging. Above 70%, such as some overproof rum or grain alcohol, the bottle is not allowed at all. In the cabin, any alcohol is a liquid: miniatures of 3.4 ounces or less in the quart bag, like any other toiletry-sized container.
The checker below applies these bands to your bottles. Weight is the other constraint: six bottles of wine weigh several kilos once wrapped, and a bag that crosses the airline’s weight limit pays a surcharge; the overweight fee page lists them. A bottle wrapped in clothes in the middle of the bag, away from the sides, travels best.
Baby food, milk and special diets
Parents get the widest exemption on both sides of the Atlantic. In the US, baby formula, breast milk and baby food are allowed above 3.4 ounces in the carry-on and do not go in the quart bag; take them out and tell the officer at the start of screening. In the UK, GOV.UK allows baby food and milk and food for a special diet in larger quantities, and the rule recorded on this site sets 2 litres as the ceiling. Officers may ask you to open a container, so pack it where it is easy to reach.
Leaving from a UK airport
For food, the UK split between airports matters less than for toiletries, because most solid food is unaffected. It matters for jars. From Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Bristol, Belfast International, a 400 g jar of honey or chutney can stay in the cabin bag, since their pages allow containers up to 2 litres. From London Stansted, Manchester or any other airport keeping 100 ml, the same jar goes in the hold or stays behind. Gatwick’s page notes that metal and double-walled containers, such as an insulated flask of soup, must still be emptied. The UK liquid rules page lists every airport with the date its page was read.
Arriving with food: customs is a separate check
Getting through security at departure says nothing about what you may bring into the country at the other end. Each country sets its own import rules for meat, dairy, eggs, fruit, vegetables and plants, and many of them differ from what you are used to. This site does not hold those rules. Read the page of the customs or agriculture authority of your destination before you pack food for the journey, declare it on arrival when you are asked, and eat or discard anything you are unsure about before landing.