A surprising egg-ception
If you live in the US, there’s one egg you won’t find on your hunt this Easter.
4th April 2020
Next week, kids all over the world will be donning their bonnets and heading out to hunt for the chocolate treats hidden by the Easter Bunny. Here in the UK many of these eggs will be Cadbury’s Creme Eggs, Mini Eggs or our personal favourites: Kinder Surprise Eggs (everybody love a bonus toy right?).
We have several Americans in our team and we were surprised to learn (this won’t be the last time we use the word ‘surprise’, sorry in advance), that while the innocent treat can be found around the world, it’s actually deemed illegal in the US.
The 1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act is the law most cited to justify the embargo on Kinder Eggs. Because a toy is kept inside a confection, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) claims the surprise toy could be a choking hazard for kids.
There is also the influence of big business to consider; don’t forget, Ferrero, the manufacturer of Kinder Surprise are Italian…
Surprise, surprise (again, sorry) US food giant Mars Inc fiercely lobby the government to have confections with interior toys banned any time a similar product comes on the market. For instance, in 1997, when Nestlé tried to introduce ‘Wonder balls’ in the US, Mars was instrumental in promoting civil action to prevent the marketing of this product.
Ferrero’s Kinder surprise eggs have been manufactured and sold around the world since the 1970’s with only ten children’s deaths being directly attributed to the toy. The capsule for the toys has been patented since 1975, and has air holes for safety.
The Europeans among us here at Team Patently can assure you, that these eggs are perfectly safe. The capsule holding the toy is too large for a small child to swallow, and it’s nigh-on impossible for an adult to open the thing, let a lone a child.
Also, a word of warning — while researching, we found stories telling of what happens if you get caught trying to ‘smuggle’ Kinder eggs into the US, it doesn’t sound fun. One such tale tells of a family travelling into the US from Canada who packed 10 Kinder eggs in their luggage for their children (all over the age of five) for Easter. Customs and Border Protection not only confiscated the Kinder eggs, but also fined the family $1,200 [£787] per egg, or $12,000 [£7,870] total. So, don’t try this, unless you’re willing to pay a hefty price.
Apparently many people do, 60,000–100,000 smuggled eggs are seized by border officials every year by the US Customs and Border Protection Agency. There is clearly a huge demand for the product in the US.
So it should be no surprise (last one, we promise) that Ferrero adapted the classic design and have released a version that will circumvent the law by not encasing the toy in the chocolate — true innovation in action.
What are your favourite chocolate eggs? Let us know on social media.
