Two Seattle men stopped at border for having illegal chocolate eggs

Fox: Two Seattle men stopped at border for having illegal chocolate eggs

I know many who think the Kinder chocolate eggs are very cool. However, in living abroad, working for the US, and using the US mail system, I know that this is one item that I cannot send or take back to the US.

Many here were surprised by this rule. I thought it was interesting that 60,000 Kinder eggs were confiscated in 2011!

As a Global Entry user, I would not want to be caught with something I'm not supposed to carry (even a chocolate egg that seems harmless) and lose GE privileges!

 

Since I don't live in the US, I did not know that Kinder Eggs are illegal in the US.

 

Odd, very odd. I didn't know about this rule.

That's a little bit harsh. I'm mean, have border agents nothing better to do?

Do they believe that foreign " outside of the US " children cannot choke on the small plastic toys?

 

Yes - concerns that a child will choke on the toy inside...of course, one might hope parental supervision would prevent this!!

 

I'm sure something happened at some point...

 

Thanks for sharing this info, was surprised about that Kinder eggs are not allowed in the US, seeing that they confiscated 60.000 in 2011, there seems to be certain demand for them.

 

From my German colleague...

 

Priceless! Awesome expression, enjoyed some too?

 

The borders must be safe.....even Kinder eggs can't slip through.....

 

You should see what they do when they find you also in possession of the chocolate bunny.

 

There is a huge thread on this over on FT. Basically, IIRC, there is some old FDA regulation that states that you can't manufacture or sell (or import) a confectionary item with a non-food item inside, as it can be a choking hazard. Silly, imo, as you'd be hard-pressed to even attempt to SWALLOW that giant yellow plastic container inside the egg. And what's the difference between a toy in the kinder egg with those toys you get in the plastic containers out of gumball machines? Remember the craze over hot dogs as choking hazards?

I've brought in some eggs from Germany and Czech Republic. Didn't know they were illegal at the time. Even listed "chocolates/candies" on my customs declarations forms! My kids really enjoyed them

If we ever go to Canada, I'll have to make sure my kids eat the eggs BEFORE we cross the border.

But what would the process normally be if you were to get caught? Just surrender the eggs and move along? Detained for hours for questioning? Pay a fine? Some combination of the above? YMMV?

I'd say that there is a demand for them from those who know, and that many people unwittingly purchase and try to bring them into the country. I had no idea they were illegal before my trip to Europe. My wife had no idea until they ran a news feature on them this past Easter (after the FDA put out an alert over them).

 

Maybe we should allow lead-tainted toys and baby-choking cribs too, and hope for parental supervision.

 

It is vital to keep foreign objects out of our children's airways.

 

also applies to certain stuff from China.....

 

Nanny government?

I bought these eggs for my kids at the German deli in Pike Place market, and I've brought them back from Germany, too. How should a traveler know they are now prohibited? And yes it is absolutely impossible for a child to swallow the large yellow plastic capsule inside the chocolate. And that capsule wouldn't be easy for a young child to open, probably requires parental assistance for a child under, say, 5 or 6.

Sheesh

 

Apparently the proper response to the insidious German Kinder egg is this...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MLry6Cn_D4

 

Seems to me there could be another motive for confiscating chocolate eggs. Were the boarder guards, ahem, oversized?

 

Or one of the thousands of ebay sellers?

 

My kids - aged 3 and 5 at the time I got them the eggs from Europe - had a very tough time trying to open those yellow capsules. In the end, I had to open them up for them. They have the toys up on their shelves, along with various snowglobes, keychains, magnets, and other things I've brought them from my travels. Including cube-shaped rocks I liberated from the edge of a crumbling sidewalk in Prague. Yeah, that was one of my weirder gifts to them...

 

As one of the doctors who has to manage and remove all sort of objects that end inside the airway after choking as well as things that get stuck in kids esophagus, I only can commend the confiscation of these "kinder eggs". They are a real hazard to the smallest children who put everything into their mouth, and a nice chocolate treat hiding the hazard is particularly dangerous.
I have plenty of stupid parents who intentionally give inappropriate items like nuts and balloons to their young kids .
The number of children affected was high enough for this safety measure. Just like labeling laws on caustic agents, these laws have saved countless children's lives.

 

I think I've seen Kinder eggs for sale in smaller/ethnic US stores in the last few years, I thought that meant that they became legal. Are they smuggled in, or did the border guards not get the memo?

 

I had so many of them as a child (and a teenager, and a university student)...
I never knew these are illegal in the US!

 

Oh.My.God! It's a miracle I reached adulthood!

I think we really need a public awareness campaign with TV commercials, posters in foreign airports, Jeff Smisek warning passengers personally in his UA welcome videos. Oh, and FDA dogs specifically trained to pick up the scent of Kinder eggs in people's bags at the airports.

 

The canines would be known as KEGs ....kinder egg guarddogs.

 

In fact, I am going to lobby for an entirely new department under the umbrella of Homeland Security: The Kinder Egg Defense Organization -- KEDO (pronounced "kiddo"). They'll get egg scanners loosely based on those nudeoscopes that their TSA comrades use, but they'll just find vaguely egg-shaped items.