US Border confiscated $2 Kinder egg from CDN woman

[Kat77]

I've known for a long time they were banned but still smuggle them home. I would not bother argueing with customs over candy.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Wow, I guess German children must be dying in droves.

Nope--but I have had multiple Germans parents ask me why Americans think their children are too stupid to know that you EAT chocolate and PLAY WITH toys BTW--you really do not have to open the chocolate carefully (see below).

Not that I agree with it entirely, but I think I can see their logic. In the case of Legos, etc., the hazard is visible. My guess is that they fear that a parent may think the egg is all candy like a Cadbury egg and give it to their small child to eat unsupervised. Since the egg does contain small toys that don't meet standards for the three-and-under crowd a two year old may end up with a toy in their hands considered "too small" for their safety without the parent's realization.

It really isn't a choking hazard (and the fact that a toy is inside is CLEARLY labeled). Inside the chocolate egg "shell" is a plastic egg like container. This container is too large to choke a child (intentionally designed that way) and rather difficult to open. The actual toy (with small parts) is inside that too large to chile on and hard to open container. it is VERY unlikely that anyone would choke on it.

 

[EMom]

Apparently so, here's a Consumer Reports article on the eggs with a note to contact the CPCS if you find them illegally in your area:
.

If I find one illegally in a store, I'm going to buy it. I usually get mine at German or Russian shops. Dang! Now that this story is out, I'm afraid I'll have a hard time scoring one for DD at Easter. We could get DD to do anything when we took her to Belgium/The Netherlands at age 5, simply by promising a Kinder Egg. Best Euro(s) I've ever spent. And heaven knows I've brought more than a few of them back from Europe in my luggage. My British friend has brought some back for my DD as well. I had no idea it was illegal.

I do remember one that we bought in The Netherlands came with a teeeeeeeny plastic creation (I think it was a bike or car or something) that you had to ASSEMBLE! I swear it was beyond miniscule, even when put together, but the individual pieces were microscopic. But of course, nothing would do but that we put it together for DD. She just had to have it. We took out the itty bitty instructions, which I don't believe even had an English translation and got to work. I believe making a rocket would have been easier. But when we were finished, that little thing actually WORKED. It rolled and everything! It was so cool. Man, I love Kinder Eggs.

 

[Geoff_M]

It really isn't a choking hazard (and the fact that a toy is inside is CLEARLY labeled). Inside the chocolate egg "shell" is a plastic egg like container. This container is too large to choke a child (intentionally designed that way) and rather difficult to open. The actual toy (with small parts) is inside that too large to chile on and hard to open container. it is VERY unlikely that anyone would choke on it.

I wasn't arguing in favor of the ban, I was saying that I think I see their logic. The CPSC very much uses the precautionary principle of "better safety than sorry." For them "unlikely" (very, or otherwise) isn't good enough.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I wasn't arguing in favor of the ban, I was saying that I think I see their logic. The CPSC very much uses the precautionary principle of "better safety than sorry." For them "unlikely" (very, or otherwise) isn't good enough.

Okay. I still think that those who are not familiar with the eggs were visualizing little, choking sized plastic parts in our mouth if you just bit straight into the chocolate, so I wanted to explain how it is.
Honestly, a child whose parents' attention is briefly not on them is much more likely to choke by mouthing (because kids young enough for choking to be a big issues are also young enough to tend to mouth things) a happy meal toy or cereal prize that they grab from the box---or simply by putting the FOODS which tend to choke (hot dogs, grapes, popcorn, hard candy, etc) into their mouths. CPSC is not banning any of those things, or putting warnings on the foods about them being only for children over a certain age.
I honestly don't think this ban makes sense even from a better safe than sorry principal.

 

[quadwriter85]

My cousin was stationed in Germany for the Army years ago and he shipped Kinder eggs to us several times. We would send money to him so he could buy them for us. He did tell us that were illegal in the U.S. and many other servicemen were shipping to their families.

 

[Planogirl]

Does anyone else feel challenged to find these now? I'm intrigued.

 

[Kat77]

Does anyone else feel challenged to find these now? I'm intrigued.

Nah, but I feel challenged to smuggle them any chance I get in the future. I'm a kindermule!

 

[quadwriter85]

If I was to mention this to my parents, they would probably want to find them and get some for my niece, nephew and a few younger relatives who have never seen them before.

 

[Carina]

I do understand about choking hazards, but kids KNOW the toy is inside; mine would be carefully removing the chocolate so as not to damage the toy.

I take it you have never seen one

The chocolate egg is big and hollow, there is another "egg" inside ( not actually egg its more like a chocolate cansiter) its (usually) orange and HARD to open - I had to open them for my kids 9 times out of 10 until they were about 10 years old. You would not mistake that for anything edible its orange and would not comfortable fit in ones mouth.

Inside that orange container - once you finally get the darn thing open, is the toy. More often than not its a toy that needs to be put together, the kids are dissapointed if its not something that needs to be assembled as that is all the fun. I think we have only ever gotten one or 2 ( not counting the disney knock offs) that dont need to be assembled.

The instructions and sometimes stickers to add to the assembled toys are included in the egg. The instructions are sometimes very difficult to figure out.

Some people collect the toys ( I have had a few 20 something co-workers that collecte them) they goal is try and get full sets of a series of toys. I dont know much about it, ours are usually thrown out within 48 hours after I find them laying around.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jetgirlart/2359094231/

 

[Huggles]

I see from Carina's photos that she had one of the older style, two part, containers. Nowadays the eggs we get have toy containers where the lid is actually attached to the base; a sort of 'flip top' affair. This makes it even harder for possible choking ( on the packaging at least). The manufacturers seem to be trying very hard to limit choking hazards. All the packaging has warnings about small pieces and age limits etc but, hey, it just takes one claim....

BTW our family love Kinder eggs. Did you know you can get HUGE ones at Easter that have BIG toys inside?

Our favorite toy out of one of the mini eggs was a tiny digger that worked perfectly.

 

[MistressMerryweather]

I'm fairly certain they were not banned because of choking hazard. There is some old law that states that inedible items cannot be placed inside of food or something like that. I'll go look. I just heard this not too long ago and researched it because I thought it was so stupid. It really is silly.

ETA: Found it. Here it is.

Aside from children potentially choking on the toys, the real reason Kinder Eggs are banned is the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938. This Act prohibits the embedding of non-food items completely enclosed inside food items, unless the non-edible part has a functioning value. For example a lollipop or popsicle stick is not edible but is a useful handle. This Act was originally put into place to prevent the addition of hazardous items to processed food and has never been changed.

 

[Disneyadore]

Nope--but I have had multiple Germans parents ask me why Americans think their children are too stupid to know that you EAT chocolate and PLAY WITH toys BTW--you really do not have to open the chocolate carefully (see below).


It really isn't a choking hazard (and the fact that a toy is inside is CLEARLY labeled). Inside the chocolate egg "shell" is a plastic egg like container. This container is too large to choke a child (intentionally designed that way) and rather difficult to open. The actual toy (with small parts) is inside that too large to chile on and hard to open container. it is VERY unlikely that anyone would choke on it.

And thousands of grown ups collect them. There are fairs in Europe were collectors pay thousands of Euro's for them.
So look in your old toy chest and put them on the internet.

 

[Carina]

I see from Carina's photos that she had one of the older style, two part, containers. Nowadays the eggs we get have toy containers where the lid is actually attached to the base; a sort of 'flip top' affair...

Just googled a random pic to show people that had not seen one. My kids got a few for Xmas in their stocking, but I was not home when they ate them so did not see the new pkging.

They are a special treat and usually just get a few a year

 

[Kat77]

I'm fairly certain they were not banned because of choking hazard. There is some old law that states that inedible items cannot be placed inside of food or something like that. I'll go look. I just heard this not too long ago and researched it because I thought it was so stupid. It really is silly.

ETA: Found it. Here it is.

Yup that's the reason! This applies to Marti Gras king cakes as well because we've had to hid our own figure for the past decade atleast.

 

[Carina]

Yup that's the reason! This applies to Marti Gras king cakes as well because we've had to hid our own figure for the past decade atleast.

Apparently it's also the reason that cracker jacks just have paper toys (ie stickers) too, because paper is technically edible .

No 'proof' thats the reason, I was just told that a few months ago when someone told me that kinder eggs were illegal in the US

 

[Kat77]

Apparently it's also the reason that cracker jacks just have paper toys (ie stickers) too, because paper is technically edible .

No 'proof' thats the reason, I was just told that a few months ago when someone told me that kinder eggs were illegal in the US

Cracker Jack should move operations to Canada put real toys back in the boxes.

http://mightygirl.com/2007/11/30/up-yours-cracker-jack/

 

[Carina]

Cracker Jack should move operations to Canada put real toys back in the boxes.

http://mightygirl.com/2007/11/30/up-yours-cracker-jack/

Ha ha that link was very funny, as were some of the comments under it!

 

[scrapquitler]

Lind Bird was recently stopped at the U.S. border and selected for a random search of her vehicle. She was warned she could have faced a fine after the customs official found — and seized — her $2 Kinder Surprise egg as illegal contraband.

Yep, this is what border patrol is doing rather than stopping illegals.

I've purchased kindereggs on ebay, so it's not like you can't get them in the US. And anytime we go to Canada, we buy them and bring them home.

 

[PatsMom]

When I went to France I was going to sneak some Kinder Eggs into my luggage. But I was chaperoning a school trip and didn't want the kids to see me getting caught with contraband! We all knew they were forbidden in the US because when we found them at the grocery store one of the guides mentioned it to us.

Seems like we have more important things to worry about than a toy in a plastic egg, inside a chocolate egg!