Kinder Surprise Eggs, or just Kinder Eggs, are a hot item for confiscation at US borders, and the popular European chocolate egg with a toy in it is one of those nice things Americans just can’t seem to have without potentially choking to death.
While Kinder Eggs are routinely confiscated in US airports from disappointed American kids returning from holidays abroad, non-American children are quite fond of the candy toy combo. Because candy and a toy!
Our family became acutely aware of the Kinder Egg ban in the US this summer. When upon returning from their yearly trip to Ireland to visit grandma, my kids were patted down and divested of their Kinder Egg stash. Inexplicably, TSA agents at JFK forced them to eat the candy and discard the toys, seemingly exposing them to all the potential risk apparently posed by Kinder Eggs while ensuring the actual value of the treat was left behind in an airport trashcan — such is TSA logic, we suppose.
America’s Kinder Egg ban remains intact under FDA rules dating back to the 1930s, but, just in time for Easter, an Americanized version of Kinder Eggs is set to hit US shelves. (Of course, if it’s anything like US versions of other European chocolate, the wrapper will be similar and the actual edible portion will be a sad, sad stand-in.)
Foodbeast broke the news about Choco Treasure, a new Kinder Egg-like confection that manages to skirt the FDA’s ban on “non-nutritive” items in foodstuffs.
It appears that a seam of some sort delineates the chocolate part from the toy part, though again we’d like to point out that kids across Europe seem to understand snarfing a Kinder Egg whole is not a good idea, and thusly aren’t dying in droves with cheap plastic trinkets wedged in their throats, weakly gasping “oh, no alors” as they expire from a preventable awesome snack.
US Kinder Egg fans can find Choco Treasure at retailers like Target this spring.
