🌶️ Pepper / spices

Spices including pepper are permitted in carry-on with no quantity restriction, so screeners will not confiscate them. A large container of loose powder may be pulled for additional screening — this usually means a swab test for explosive residue, which takes about a minute and routinely clears ordinary spices.

The US, UK, and Australia have all introduced enhanced screening for powders in containers larger than 350ml (about 12oz) in carry-on baggage. In these regions a large bag of pepper or mixed spices may be pulled out and examined separately, though it will not be confiscated. Smaller everyday spice jars pass through with no additional steps anywhere.

Screeners are trained to distinguish common food powders from substances of concern, and ground pepper is one of the most familiar items they encounter. If your spice container is unlabelled, a screener may open it to confirm the contents or run a swab, but this is brief and the spices will be returned to you.

Keep spices in their original labelled containers and pack them in a single layer near the top of your bag if you are carrying a large quantity, so screeners can identify them quickly on the X-ray. For a large collection of spice jars, placing them in a clear zip-lock bag makes them easy to remove for inspection if asked.