The Terror of an Easter Egg or Why Kinder Surprise is Banned in America.

Some say that guns don’t kill…… Other say that guns do kill. Wait a minute…. Isn't it a Human who pulls the trigger?

Now, do eggs kill? What if it is a chocolate egg? What if it is a plastic egg that is inside a chocolate egg? What if it is a small toy that is inside a plastic egg that is inside a chocolate egg?

And why at all would you be scared of those chocolate surprise eggzzzzz?

Those of you who ever lived or travelled a lot outside United States of America might have guessed that I am talking about Kinder Surprise, an essential part of a happy childhood anywhere except America.

Every country has dumb laws, but this one beats many. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banns Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs because "the embedded non-nutritive objects in these confectionery products may pose a public health risk as the consumer may unknowingly choke on the object."

Oh my, this is a terror of an egg…..Just imagine an American consumer taking a colorful wrapper off a chocolate egg, which is a size of a regular egg and without further thinking pushing the whole chocolate egg into his/hers throat…making tremendous efforts to gulp it whole in order to “unknowingly choke” on it.

I suppose The U.S. Food and Drug Administration deem an American child as stupid and dumb as a stupid and dumb possibly can be…. Well, with all those TV shows and senseless songs it might be true….

But the Kinder Surprise was banned long ago, before the era of brain-killing TV shows….

Everyone knows Natella spread. It is delicious.

This is a hazelnut chocolate spread, manufactured by an Italian company Ferrero Group.

The same company, Ferrero, among other great chocolate products gave the world a Kinder Surprise, a chocolate egg with a surprise toy inside. The eggs were first made in Italy in 1973 as Kinder Sorpresa. Since 1974 it is produced as Kinder Surprise.

"Kinder" means "children" in German, and on the packaging you often see a word “Überraschung", which means "surprise".

Why a German name on an Italian product? Probably because they were made with the German brand Kinder Chocolate ("Kinderschokolade") first introduced to Italy in 1967. Also, Germany was the first market for this product.

In 2004, a Luxembourg-based company called MPG (Magic Production Group) took over toy production, although Ferrero continues to make Kinder Surprise chocolate.

Instead of silly useless toys or sugar loaded candies from plastic Easter eggs, a child could get The Kinder Surprise! Haha, it would be called “The Terror of an Easter Egg” according to The U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Since Kinder Surprise is illegal in USA, you can get into trouble plus monetary penalty for bringing this candy into the country. The CBP (Customs and Border Protection) seized more than 60,000 Kinder Eggs from travelers' baggage and from international mail shipment in fiscal year 2011, which was more than twice the number seized in fiscal year 2010.

As a result American children are deprived of a delicious healthy chocolate treat, which long ago became much more than just a treat. Though no other milk chocolate can beat the Ferrero Kinder Chocolate with its secret recipe of “more milk less cocoa” – tasty soft milk chocolate on the outside and a lining of a milky cream on the inside in just the right size portion to give children a little sweet moment, Kinder Surprise is treasured more for a little surprise toy inside….

It might be a toy to build and play with, a gadget to create fun, or a special character figurine to collect….. You can never know what is inside until you open an egg….

The Kinder Surprise toys became an object of collecting and trading not only among children, but surprisingly among grown-ups.

A serious collector might pay hundreds of dollars for the right Kinder Surprise toy!

All over the world, except in USA, where Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs are illegal.Yes, illegal.

American children may safely have a chocolate egg with no plastic egg inside, but lots of small, hard, irregularly shaped sour candies in it (wonderball), it is presumed safe. Also boba tea, coke, cool aid etcetera are safe. Hot dog on a stick is safe, lollipop on a stick is safe.

But Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs, which not only stimulate imagination and creativity, but also accompany and aid in a child’s growth and development is not safe for American children. Ferrero company writes about their Kinder Surprise: “ All Kinder Surprise toys are designed and developed with safety in mind, rigorously observing international regulations as well as extra safety criteria voluntarily adopted by the Ferrero Group”.

Kinder Surprise bears warnings advising the consumer that the toy is “not suitable for children under three years, due to the presence of small parts” and that “adult supervision is recommended.”

Definitely it is not enough for America….. According to US safety rules, inedible object should be visible, according to Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938. This Act prohibits the non-food items being 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.

According statistics, through almost 30 years of Kinder Surprise being on the market, at least six children worldwide have died from choking on the toys. They were ruled out as unfortunate fatalities.

This was discussed in the UK House of Commons and also by the UK Department of Trade and Industry which said, "The child’s tragic death was caused by the ingestion of a small part of the egg’s contents. Many other products and toys with small parts are available in the market place. If we were to start banning every product that could be swallowed by a child, there would be very few toys left in the market.”

Also, all the small rocks, coins and other objects that a small unsupervised child can push into his nose or mouth should be banned as well.

Remember the story of an Aqua Assault RoboFighter toy, banned from the market because three children got themselves killed (almost in an unrealized suicide manner) by unbelievably misusing the toy?

The latest news headlines:

"No More Kinder Surprise Smuggling: New, Legal Chocolate Eggs With Toys Inside Available In The U.S."

"They’re legal! An American version of the beloved Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs produced by Lebanon, N.J.-based Candy Treasure LLC is now FDA-approved"

Yay, American children are now trusted and deemed smart enough to know what to do with kinder Eggs.

“The Choco Treasure” is the name of an American version of Kinder Surprise.

It gets around the rule forbidding “a non-nutritive object” being encased entirely in food by making a toy capsule somewhat visible. Hopefully an American child will be smart enough not to try to eat it.

However, I doubt that this product is going to be any close to Kinder Surprise in both chocolate quality and value of toys….

Actually, I am sure that there is no possible match to a Kinder Surprise from Ferrero Group.