Thursday, July 19, 2012

Protecting the U.S. from a Canadian Kinder Surprise

       Kinder Surprise eggs are a chocolate-coated egg confection but inside they also contain a toy, the surprise. The eggs are banned from the U.S. The U.S. bans the eggs because of the "non-nutritive object" in the center. This is regarded as a choking hazard.
      Brandon Loo and Christopher Sweeney were bringing back the eggs for Canadian friends in the U.S. since they were not on sale in the U.S. Not only are they not on sale, there is a fine of up to $2,500 for bringing them into the U.S.
      The two were detained for two and a half hours explaining that they were not engaged in running illegal chocolate across the border for gain. In 2011 alone the U.S. Customs and Border control had confiscated 60,000 Kinder Surprise eggs.
       Surely they should ship these back to Canada to be distributed to under-privileged children. Most likely their destination is the dump or they are destroyed in some manner.
   The eggs were invented in Italy but are quite popular in Germany. "Kinder" is German for children. There have been reports of children choking on the toys because the parts are small and there are warnings on the egg containers indicating the hazards involved. For more see this article or here.

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