U.S. Cracks Down on Chocolate Egg Imports

[Rokke]

Fox News:

A popular brand of chocolate egg may give candy lovers a bigger surprise than the toy found inside.

Lind Bird of Canada was stopped at the U.S. border last month and subjected to a random search of her vehicle, in which authorities spotted and confiscated a $2 Kinder Surprise as illegal contraband.

"It's just a chocolate egg," Bird told CBC. "And they were making a big deal. They said: 'If you were caught with this across the border you would get charged a $300 fine.'"

Because the United States prohibits embedding non-food items in confections, the eggs have been denied access to the country due to tiny toys contained in them that pose a choking hazard for small children, the AFP reports.

According to Mike Milne, a spokesman for U.S. customs and border protection, authorities seized over 25,000 of the eggs in 2009, which are most often brought back during Christmas and Easter seasons.

[Rokke]

Nickydog introduced these to Snoozen and I before the kids came along. We loved them. The toys inside are actually really cool. We bought a bunch that included all the pieces for a Nativity Set. Since then, I brought them back for my kids when I've travelled back from overseas. They love them. Still do. And to top it all off, the chocolate is excellent.

Sooooo, of course they'd be illegal in America. The land of Cracker Jack. And surprises in cereal boxes.

[pollyannaish]

Nothing like taking candy AND toys from babies.

 

What a sad thing.

[Casino67]

Nothing like taking candy AND toys from babies.

 

What a sad thing.

 

It is just our great government protecting us from all things, great and small. Bureaucrats have to do something to protect their jobs.

[nickydog]

Didn't we used to buy Kinder Eggs in Brussels? Or London? Was it only Stuttgart? It's all running together in my old age.

[Rokke]

Didn't we used to buy Kinder Eggs in Brussels? Or London? Was it only Stuttgart? It's all running together in my old age.

Stuttgart. But you can get them anywhere in the world now. Except the USA.

[NCTexan]

We obviously need common sense and balance in protecting our children...

 

HOWEVER our society has become so NANNY-ized today, that new parents obsess on providing a situation that is 100% secure from any and every bad outcome.

 

This creates an environment where normally ration people allow (or actually support) legislation that goes over the top like banning these chocolate eggs.

 

There are a couple of bad assumptions with this legislation:

 

Parents are idiots and legislation can stop them from being idiots

 

Children should be raised in a 100% secure "Bubble Boy" environment 100% of the time.

 

We learned of the "Galette des Rois" in France... It's a tradition where a thin cake is baked with a charm or prize inside. The family breaks it into pieces and the person who finds a prize inside their piece is named the King of the Christmas celebration. This is a very old Christmas tradition that would probably be outlawed in the US.

 

It's amazing that any Frenchmen survived to continue their country until today.

 

[pollyannaish]

The more I think about it, the more laughable this becomes.

 

It reminds me of the hysteria of Halloween candy. In all the years children have gone trick or treating, there has never been a single incidence of a stranger handing out tainted candy. But we must be protected from something that "might" happen. This strikes me as the same kind of thing. I bet no one has ever choked on the toy inside, but they "might" someday.

[Pepper]

I think we should ban gravel, pebbles, any kind of dried beans, ball bearings, steel shot, lead shot, dried gum....

[clearvision]

Pepper is pretty dangerous too... ban it.