France
USA trade laneFrench cheese and fine food — cheese and butter, chocolate and biscuits, mustard and preserves, sea salt and specialty groceries — is a steady trade for US specialty importers, distributors and retailers. Cheese is the most regulated part of it. FDA bars raw-milk cheese aged less than 60 days, keeps a France-specific import alert on soft and soft-ripened cheese, and lists individual producers whose cheese is detained on sight; many cheese and butter lines also sit under US dairy quotas. Which cheese you can sell in America is decided by those rules before the freight is booked.
We work through WCA partner agents in France, who collect from affineurs, producers and grocery suppliers and consolidate them into a reefer at Le Havre. AGF files Prior Notice, the US entry is made by our licensed customs brokers, and we deliver to your cold store or distribution center. Meat and poultry products — charcuterie, foie gras, canned dishes containing meat — are a separate USDA regime with its own plant eligibility, and this guide does not cover them.
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Shipping Cheese & Gourmet Food from France to USA
Cheese travels in a reefer at the temperature the producer specifies — refrigerated, never frozen — with a temperature logger in the container. Hard and aged cheeses tolerate the crossing well; fresh and soft cheeses have short shelf lives, so they often fly from Paris CDG. Mixed loads of cheese, butter and chilled goods share a reefer at a compatible setting; ambient groceries can go in a dry container in the cooler months, or ride in the reefer when consolidation makes that cheaper than a second box.
From Le Havre, transit is roughly 9-16 days on the water to New York and about 15 days to Savannah; Los Angeles, through the Panama Canal, takes roughly 28-36 days. Plan shelf life around the whole chain, not just the voyage: an FDA examination or sampling hold can add days at the port, and a cheese that clears with a week of life left is hard to sell.
- Reefer at the producer's specified temperature, with a temperature logger
- Affineurs and grocery suppliers consolidated through our partner agents in France
- Air from Paris CDG for fresh and short-shelf-life soft cheeses
- Prior Notice filed before arrival; possible FDA holds planned into shelf life
What Drives the Cost
- Reefer versus dry container, and air for short-shelf-life cheese
- Quota position: in-quota duty under a USDA dairy import licence or the higher over-quota rate
- FDA examination or detention, private laboratory testing and cold storage while it lasts
- Customs duty and the EU Section 301 top-up, confirmed per line
- Consolidation across several producers and pickup points
- Cold-store delivery and distribution at the US end
HS Codes and Duty Notes
Classification guidance only — duty rates change and depend on your exact product. Our licensed customs brokers verify every code before you commit to an order.
| HS Code | Products | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 0406 | Cheese — fresh (0406.10), blue-veined such as Roquefort (0406.40), other cheeses such as Comté and Brie (0406.90) | Many lines are under US dairy tariff-rate quotas, with specific duties on some; the EU Section 301 top-up applies only where the normal duty is below 10%. Confirmed per 10-digit line at quoting. |
| 0405 | Butter and dairy spreads | Also under dairy quotas; in-quota rates need a USDA dairy import licence. |
| 1806 / 1905 | Chocolate and confectionery; biscuits and bakery products | Some chocolate lines with milk or sugar content fall under quotas too; check the line before ordering. |
| 2103 / 2007 | Mustard, sauces and condiments; jams and fruit preserves | Modest duties. Low-acid canned or acidified foods need FDA process filings before they can enter. |
Regulations and Compliance
The 60-day raw-milk rule
Cheese made from unpasteurized milk can be sold in the US only if it has been aged at least 60 days at a temperature of at least 35°F (1.7°C). Aged raw-milk cheeses such as Comté, Beaufort and Roquefort qualify; young raw-milk cheeses such as raw-milk Brie de Meaux and Camembert de Normandie do not, and are refused. Many producers make a pasteurized version for export, which then faces the soft-cheese import alert below.
FDA Import Alert 12-03: soft cheese from France
Import Alert 12-03 allows FDA to detain soft and soft-ripened cheese from France without physical examination because of the risk of Listeria. Producers certified under the French government's program — pasteurized milk and Listeria testing — are on its Green List and exempt; cheese from producers not on the list is detained and released only on evidence such as satisfactory laboratory results. Check the producer's Green List status before you order.
FDA Import Alert 12-10: producer Red List
Import Alert 12-10 lists individual cheese makers, from France and elsewhere, whose products are detained without examination after findings of Listeria, Salmonella, E. coli or staphylococcal enterotoxin. Several French producers are on it. A producer on the list must petition FDA to be removed, so check every supplier before booking.
FDA registration, Prior Notice and FSVP
Every French producer must hold a current FDA food facility registration — the 2026 renewal window runs from 1 October to 31 December — every shipment needs Prior Notice before arrival, and the US importer must run a Foreign Supplier Verification Program for its suppliers. Labels need US nutrition, allergen and ingredient formats. Low-acid canned and acidified foods also need FDA facility and process filings.
USDA dairy import licences and quotas
Many cheese and butter lines fall under US dairy tariff-rate quotas. Imports under a USDA dairy import licence, issued to importers, pay the lower in-quota rate; everything else pays the over-quota rate, which can make a product uneconomic. Some cheeses sit outside the quota altogether. Which applies to your cheese is decided by its HTS line, so we confirm it before you order.
Tariffs
Since 24 July 2026, most EU goods pay their normal duty topped up to 10% in total under a Section 301 measure — goods whose normal duty is already 10% or more pay nothing extra. A separate Section 301 investigation into structural excess capacity, which covers the EU and names food and beverages, has not concluded and could add a layer. The total is confirmed for each line at quoting.
Door-to-Door Import Service
We start from your product list and producers: raw or pasteurized milk and age for every cheese, Green List and Red List status, FDA registrations and quota lines. Our partner agents in France then collect from each affineur and supplier, consolidate into a reefer at the specified temperature, and AGF files Prior Notice and the ISF before loading at Le Havre — or books air from Paris CDG for short-shelf-life cheese.
On arrival, our licensed customs brokers file the entry, and we deliver to your cold store or distribution center, with a partner cold store available near the port if FDA holds the shipment for examination.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you import raw milk cheese from France into the US?
Why is French Brie hard to import into the US?
Do I need a license to import cheese into the US?
How is cheese shipped from France to the US?
Cheese & Gourmet Food is just one example. AGF ships whatever your business moves — on this lane and beyond. If your commodity isn't covered by one of our guides, tell us what you ship and we'll build the logistics around it.
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