Peanut Butter? Ranch? The Surprising Things You Can’t Bring Through TSA

This article was originally published in 2023 and most recently updated on June 22, 2026, with current information.

To save time when going through airport security and to avoid having to ditch toiletries, make sure that anything in your carry-on that could be considered liquid-y runs 3.4 ounces (100 milliliters) or less. That includes ranch dressing.

Ranch dressing? The one and only. Along with a dozen other American foods, ranch has become a hit with World Cup visitors from abroad, prompting TSA to remind travelers, “Are you kicking around the idea of flying home with your favorite dip? If you’re traveling within the U.S., make sure to keep your carry-on sauces to 3.4oz or less and place any larger containers in your checked bags,” (although at these prices, we’d think twice about checking a bag).

Beyond the likes of sunscreen, conditioner, and full-size bottles of ranch dressing, here are eight more items that can’t be brought through TSA.

Related: How to Get Through Airport Security Quickly, According to a TSA Insider

Peanut butter

A peanut butter sandwich is a good snack to bring through TSA in your carry-on, but a jar of peanut butter will have to go in your checked bag. In March 2023, the airport security agency declared that it considers peanut butter to be a liquid and therefore subject to the 3.4-ounce limit for carry-on bags. Its reasoning: “A liquid has no definite shape and takes a shape dictated by its container.”

Frosting

The fate of frosting is similar to that of its cousin peanut butter, and its doom was decided more than a decade ago in Cupcakegate 2012 when a TSA agent in Las Vegas nixed a traveler’s cupcake-in-a-jar. In a blog post complete with a photo comparison of a regular cupcake and a jar version, the TSA backed the agent’s call, arguing that frosting was a gel and therefore fell under the 3.4-ounce rule. “Unlike a thin layer of icing that resides on the top of most cupcakes,” the now-defunct TSA blog wrote, “this cupcake had a thick layer of icing inside a jar.”

Fourteen years on, this rule hasn’t changed. Just as with a PB&J, if your cupcake, cake, or gingerbread house is already frosted, you can bring it through TSA. A jar of frosting or a layer so thick it could be more than 3.4 ounces will not be allowed to pass airport security.

Freezer packs that aren’t frozen

If the freezer packs or bags of ice are solid, they can stay in your carry on. But once that pack is melted or even partially slushy, it’s considered a liquid and is subject to the 3-1-1 rule. So if you’re, say, my mom, and you’re loading ice packs into a cooler of chopped liver to bring to your family for Rosh Hashanah dinner, make sure those packs are good and solid. The exception is medically necessary gel ice packs. Those can stay in your carry on, regardless of whether they’re melted, with or without the presence of breast milk.

Alcohol over 140 proof

Even if it’s decanted into tiny bottles, any booze over 140 proof (that’s 70 percent alcohol) is banned from carry-on bags. But we have to admit, skipping the Everclear on a flight seems like a smart move—for a variety of reasons, including flammability. This is also your gentle reminder that you cannot drink any alcohol you’ve brought on the plane with you.

Some sports equipment

You can bring your lucky baseball, basketball, or soccer ball into the cabin—even bike chains and bike pumps are allowed. But the TSA draws the line at any sports equipment “that can be used as a bludgeon (such as bats and clubs).” So you’ll have to check golf clubs, bowling pins, and baseball bats.

Wet pet food

If it’s too liquid-y, you’re likely to lose your pet’s lunch . . . to the TSA. So bring dry food and snacks if you’re flying with an animal, even if the food has been prescribed. Need we remind you to travel with pets appropriately, and to review all requirements and forms for service and emotional support animals? Cats love suitcases, so make sure yours didn’t climb inside before you head to the airport. This guy forgot.

Ammunition

Some people will find this an obvious prohibition, but manypeople still bring ammunition in their carry-ons. Or worse, actual guns (occasionally even hidden in peanut butter). While some firearms may be allowed in checked luggage (albeit with lots of rules), they are not allowed in the cabin—not even toys, cap guns, or historical replicas. And in case you were wondering, nunchucks, throwing stars, pocket knives, and saw blades are all prohibited too.

Non-Medical Marijuana

TSA hasn’t published any special instructions for traveling with marijuana nor published any guidance on documentation, quantity limits, or traveling between states. The “What Can I Bring?” section of the TSA website currently lists medical marijuana as “Yes (Special Instructions)” for both carry-on and checked bags.

Medical marijuana is legal in 40 of 50 states as well as three territories and the District of Columbia, and recreational cannabis is legal in 24 states, three territories, and D.C. Because each state has different regulations, and no use of marijuana is legal federally, the absence of TSA guidance makes domestic travel particularly complicated.