The Kinder Surprise is a delicious chocolate egg that contains a small toy. They’re available pretty much everywhere….except the United States, which has banned them because the tiny toys present a choking hazard to small children. And people who like to swallow chocolate eggs whole, we guess. The CBC reports that a Winnipeg woman didn’t know this, and was almost fined $300 for attempting to bring a single $2 egg into the country.
The U.S. takes catching illegal Kinder candy seriously, judging by the number of them they’ve confiscated in the last year. Officials said they’ve seized more than 25,000 of the treats in 2,000 separate seizures.
“They have been determined to present … a choking hazard to young children,” said Mike Milne, a spokesman for the U.S. department of customs and border protection. Milne said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration supports the Kinder Surprise ban.
Wondering what else you can’t bring back over the border? Check here.
Kinder Surprise egg seized at U.S. border [CBC] (Thanks, Gray!)
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WTF?! i love these things, and used to get them up in Canada all the time. i’d go up for work/friends/whatever, buy a bunch, and bring them home. NEVER caught trouble for it. My friends send them to me all the time.
Stupid!!
oh man i love these eggs. stupid America!
Solution: don’t be an idiot and give a Kinder Surprise to a toddler.
Who can’t actually get one open in the first place.
How the fuck can we have a ban on imports of things that are crappy food, but then turn around and make worth within our borders? That’s just incredibly stupid.
I’ve always loved the creepy ad they ran back in the ’80s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOFRIWx5F9c
That’s odd. I’ve bought this before in the States. I know a guy that sells them. I grew up on the stuff and fucking love it. Some of the tastiest chocolate known to man.
And the government is wondering why we’re in the trillions of dollars of national debt. It’s for stupid crap like this, wasting time and money on finding this kind of crap rather than actually DOING something.
It’s probably no wonder why people are attempting to LEAVE this country as well. Thank goodness Canada is my next door neighbor (relatively anyway as I live in Washington state), because finding out this information makes me wanna leave more and more. *Sigh*
I grew up eating these things, and every country I’ve ever visited (a lot by the way) also sells these. The US can take its overprotective, protect us from ourselves, nanny state BS and shove it.
We used to buy *boxes* of these at the Richmond Costco and bring them back with us over the border. A border guard even searched through our Costco purchases last time (admittedly, this was a few years ago).
I can get them still in Grand Rapids Mi.
Kinder Eier are my favorite german candy ever. The last time I went to germany, i think I startled the shopkeep by bringing up a *pallet* of eggs. I took them home in a couple of egg cartons.
The chocolate is not even that awesome, but I *love* the toys. I love getting them with a hojillion tiny pieces. And I’ve managed to buy them in the US, but not reliably. I should request some from my sister in Germany, send her something she can’t get there.
Who knew? My son’s (now ex-)girlfriend brought some over from Germany. I guess she didn’t declare them.
I thought there was more chocolate there, but oh well. The toys were fun to play with at least.
Umm… My brother got a bunch of these for christmas and his girlfriend never had a problem getting them.
I’d wager that the companies in the US that make other chocolate treats that kiddies enjoy lobbied (successfully) to have Kinder Surprises banned. If Kinder Surprises were available in all the US stores, it would cut into the market share of M&Ms, Hershey Kisses, etc., big time.
I have a package sent to me been opened and these removed. No fine; just a seizure notice sent via Registered Mail. They made a mess of the package too.
I am a dangerous man! I brought in 10 of those eggs before Christmas from England.
Up next: drinking expired milk and ripping off mattress tags!