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Easter reminder: Kinder Eggs banned in the United States
Not all eggs are created equal in the eyes of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Kinder Eggs, a popular European chocolate egg that contains a toy inside, is banned from importation into the United States because it contains a "non-nutritive object embedded in it."
With the Easter holiday around the corner, the agency issued the reminder this week, warning that the candy is considered unsafe for children under 3. Last year, Customs and Border Protection seized 25,000 of them in 1,700 incidents.
The hollow egg, which is sold by the Italian confectioner Ferrero, is available in Europe, Canada, Australia and parts of Latin America under various names including Kinder Surprise and Kinder Sorpresa. It has taken on a cult status among adults who collect the toys, which vary from rings to animals and cartoon characters.
Kinder Eggs' scarcity in the United States has made them an object of desire: Various websites and online forums are dedicated to acquiring them.
Some are apparently hiding in plain sight. Earlier this week, DNAinfo.com, a New York City neighborhood guide, posted a story and slideshow showing stores where the coveted treats can be found.
"While there are some commercial-sized seizures that occur, most Kinder Eggs are seized in personal baggage or at mail and express consignment facilities,"Â Customs and Border Protection said.
A Canadian woman reportedly learned her lesson the hard way.
The woman was selected for a random search at a border checkpoint in Minnesota when officials discovered she was carrying a Kinder Egg and took it from her, The Toronto Star reported.
A few weeks later, she received a 7-page letter asking if she wanted the egg back or if she was going to abandon rights to it, the Star reported.
"I was in disbelief," she told the newspaper. "It's a $2 egg."
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Growing up in Ireland they were called "Kinder Surprise" – surprise being the toy. Everyone knew there was a toy. don't buy them for you're under 3 year old. This article (law it discusses) is hilarious. When I clicked on it I assumed they were smuggling cocaine inside the eggs instead of toys, but no – toys are evil and dangerous! I did manage to buy a huge Easter Egg version in an Irish store in Chicago a few years back. I must remember to report the store owner!!!
The US bans it because we "the consumers" are STUPID and TOO EASILY PRONE TO SUING.
USA kids are too stupid not to eat the toy. But all the other children in the world are smart enough not to eat it. Go figure.... Survival of the smartest.
I think it is time we stop playing nice with Canada...I think a swarm of predator drones might be a little wake-up call for those socialist basterds.
Too late, thousands of Predators already monitor the US/CAN border, but the real reason is not to keep Canadians out but (after the US dollar crashes and burns) to keep all the American NWO slave-labourers in. What's the good of a totalitarian system if all your worker-bees flee the hive?
Andrew andrew andrew, how naive you are. The goverment of the United States is not going to keep U.S. citizens in America with predator drones. They're going to implant an exlposive chip at the base of our skulls that will go off if we leave the country. 🙂
/sarcasm/ Thank God the customs agents are keeping the real threat to democracy out of this country. As a parent it lifts a huge burden off my shoulders knowing that I don't have to do any of the work of raising my kids and looking out for their safety. I just wonder how all the other countries in the world are still around when so many hundreds of thousands of kids are in mortal peril every day from this most evil confection..../sarcasm
I wonder how many people in border towns are running to Canada today to get Kinder Eggs? I already looked on craigslist for some local but no luck.
Excellent point. Since the job market is so depressed here in the U.S. and all the manufacturing jobs have fled to other countries, I was thinking of becoming a drug smuggler, but smuggling Kinder Eggs seems like a far better "job". 🙂
No Kinder eggs smuggled to me this year. But next year will be different: I'm hoarding incandescent light bulbs that I should be able to trade on the US black market!
Yep, this from a country that has "Kinder" garteners walking into class with loaded hand guns? I think it is time to get priorities in order.
I spent many years working in Germany and find that this is ridiculous. I never heard of any child, American or German, choking on a Kinder egg toy!! Most of these toys are so small they would "pass"! Get real lawmakers and start enforcing important laws and catch some of the illegals, drugs and criminals coming across our borders and let parents worry about what toddlers are eating!!
The cartel in Mexico are the biggest culprits of this problem in America. Our great communist dictator Obama is making sure our fat American kids don't swallow them whole and eat the chocolate and the toy inside. It makes perfect sense. He will definitely get my vote in 2012.
This is an Outrage!
i think we should have them, weed out some of the stupid people early
Excellent idea!
To Al the lady was questioning the government on why they would go to the expense of sending her an "official" letter for a "$2 egg" and it shouldn't be up to the children to make decisions, it's a little thing called parenting. That's why we have "child-resistant" lighters, "child-resistant" tops for baby oil, drugs, cleaners, etc. Which all the preceding items can still be opened by children by the way. Yes, I understand that we can't keep an eye on children all the time, but is there a reason why we can't put dangerous items away where prying eyes can't see them?
JaWohl mien Frau! These deadly eggs must not be allowed into the hands of American children. They're way to stupid to be allowed to eat a piece of candy without one year of Federally sponsered chewing lessons.
On the other hand the children of the so-called inferior nations of the world are free to eat & enjoy Kinder eggs...until the invasion.
I say fill it with food dye, preservatives and artificial flavor and then, maybe then, it will be fit for American's to eat!
Amen brother!
This is thoroughly idiotic. My siblings and I all grew up eating Kinder Eggs sent by our German grandmother and nothing bad ever happened. All that these meddlers are doing is robbing people of a perfectly good Easter tradition! Unreal...
JJ..maybe we can have the Chinese make us some chocolates eggs with tiny little toys painted with lead based paint! The feds will let those through!
@Dallas – I totally agree. Let's dance around the thousands of issues the food giants in our country get away with and make a big production of "protecting" the American public from themselves.