Kinder Eggs

[scottbee]

Just a warning to our American visitors, don't try and sneak Kinder Eggs back into the USA.

...were driving home to Seattle after a recent trip to Vancouver when they were stopped at the border for more than two hours and threatened with thousands of dollars in fines for dangerous contraband in the trunk of their car.

Their suspicious cargo? Six Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs, each filled with a tiny plastic toy - a childhood favourite in Canada but banned in the United States...

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Kinder+eggs+surprise+includes+harrowing+stop+border/6956919/story.html

 

[trophy_23]

I saw that on the local news the other night, I had no idea they were illegal in the US.

[Can'tstopcruising]

Just a warning to our American visitors, don't try and sneak Kinder Eggs back into the USA.

...were driving home to Seattle after a recent trip to Vancouver when they were stopped at the border for more than two hours and threatened with thousands of dollars in fines for dangerous contraband in the trunk of their car.

Their suspicious cargo? Six Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs, each filled with a tiny plastic toy - a childhood favourite in Canada but banned in the United States...

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Kinder+eggs+surprise+includes+harrowing+stop+border/6956919/story.html

 

 

OMG! Who would ever think it?

[Tweedy]

And this isn't the first incident of Kinder Eggs crossing the border that has made news.

[cruiseryyc]

So Kinder eggs are banned but AK47's aren't. Wow.

[grandma*knows*best]

That is ridiculous. I have brought Kinder Eggs back into the US from Europe many times with no problems.

[Urban trekker]

Now we know why the lineups at the border crossing here in the Vancouver area are so long!

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[6rugrats]

That is ridiculous. I have brought Kinder Eggs back into the US from Europe many times with no problems.

As have I. I had to look this up to see the FDA banned the sale of them in the US in 2003. I have also seen them for sale in US stores, even recently. Maybe there was no toy in them?

Edited July 25, 2012 by 6rugrats

[Cruzin-K]

I'm resurrecting a two year old thread rather than starting a new one on basically the same topic.

 

Does anyone know if there would be a problem taking a couple dozen Kinder Eggs on a cruise originating in Canada? The cruise is ending in the U.S. but those eggs probably won't last past Day 7, let alone Day 14 :D

 

I recently took a trip to the U.K. and a Kinder Egg was the first purchase I made over there, right in the Belfast airport :o I ate so many because I knew once I came back home I wouldn't see them again for a long time. :(

[Loonbeam]

Should not be an issue. There are differences between personal consumption and importing for sale or distribution.

[Langley Cruisers]

...I ate so many because I knew once I came back home I wouldn't see them again for a long time. :(

 

Hi also Karen :)

 

Do you like the taste of the Kinder product? The reason I ask is because I find the Kinder chocolate bar "Bueno" tastes much better. It is filled with a hazlenut cream and is light and delicious. For me, the egg is somewhat anti-climactic because it is hollow. ;) Also, the days of wanting the prize inside are long gone for me. LOL

 

[Cruzin-K]

Hi also Karen :)

 

Do you like the taste of the Kinder product? The reason I ask is because I find the Kinder chocolate bar "Bueno" tastes much better. It is filled with a hazlenut cream and is light and delicious. For me, the egg is somewhat anti-climactic because it is hollow. ;) Also, the days of wanting the prize inside are long gone for me. LOL

 

 

I like it all :D I've found some other Kinder chocolate here, but I'm still just a big child who likes the toys. I love the taste of the eggs; that white/milk chocolate combo is delicious.

[martincath]

It's still illegal to bring any amount of Kinder Eggs into the US for any reason - this is not because of them being food, but because they are a choking hazard (link to relevant page of CBP website; scroll down and a link to a press release specifically mentioning personal use importation is also being prosecuted not just those being brought in for resale).

 

On all cruises which start in Canada but end in the US you'll have to pass through US customs - that's the point you can no longer possess Kinder eggs. So in Vancouver, where US CBP is at the pier before you board, you can't carry them on at all. If it's a cruise from elsewhere that doesn't go through US customs until the end, you could take them on board as long as you ate them AND disposed of the toy - that's technically the element that is a choking hazard as many of the toys do not meet US safety rules.

 

Theoretically you could buy them, open them, ditch the toy, and carry just the chocolate egg part through the US border, but that's asking for rational behaviour and discretion from a government employee... personally I think this is a really poor value risk to take, with significant repercussions if caught and the only upside being consumption of mediocre-quality chocolate.

 

As mentioned above, if you like the taste buy one of the Kinder bar chocolate products which are legal and only differ from the Kinder Egg chocolate by having 1% more dairy (33% vs 32%) - i.e. no added hazelnut flavours like the Bueno.

[Cruzin-K]

It's still illegal to bring any amount of Kinder Eggs into the US for any reason - this is not because of them being food, but because they are a choking hazard (link to relevant page of CBP website; scroll down and a link to a press release specifically mentioning personal use importation is also being prosecuted not just those being brought in for resale).

 

On all cruises which start in Canada but end in the US you'll have to pass through US customs - that's the point you can no longer possess Kinder eggs. So in Vancouver, where US CBP is at the pier before you board, you can't carry them on at all. If it's a cruise from elsewhere that doesn't go through US customs until the end, you could take them on board as long as you ate them AND disposed of the toy - that's technically the element that is a choking hazard as many of the toys do not meet US safety rules.

 

Theoretically you could buy them, open them, ditch the toy, and carry just the chocolate egg part through the US border, but that's asking for rational behaviour and discretion from a government employee... personally I think this is a really poor value risk to take, with significant repercussions if caught and the only upside being consumption of mediocre-quality chocolate.

 

As mentioned above, if you like the taste buy one of the Kinder bar chocolate products which are legal and only differ from the Kinder Egg chocolate by having 1% more dairy (33% vs 32%) - i.e. no added hazelnut flavours like the Bueno.

 

I'm not too sure about this part. There have to be over a million different toys in the U.S. that are choking hazards. Heck, Happy Meals have different toys for kids over or under 3. There would be no way for a CBP officer to prove that a particular small toy came out of a Kinder Egg, or was purchased in a toy store in the U.S. years ago and just taken on the cruise to entertain your ten year old. I think the issue is that toys cannot be embedded in food. Once you eat the chocolate and assemble the toy, it's no longer an embedded toy, but just a regular one.

Edited December 13, 2014 by Cruzin-K

[Langley Cruisers]

...I think the issue is that toys cannot be embedded in food. Once you eat the chocolate and assemble the toy, it's no longer an embedded toy, but just a regular one.

 

I think if a child ate the chocolate egg too fast, the toy would be... umm... embedded... even if temporarily. ;)

[martincath]

I'm not too sure about this part. There have to be over a million different toys in the U.S. that are choking hazards. Heck, Happy Meals have different toys for kids over or under 3. There would be no way for a CBP officer to prove that a particular small toy came out of a Kinder Egg, or was purchased in a toy store in the U.S. years ago and just taken on the cruise to entertain your ten year old. I think the issue is that toys cannot be embedded in food. Once you eat the chocolate and assemble the toy, it's no longer an embedded toy, but just a regular one.

You're absolutely correct that the reason Kinder Eggs were originally banned is the US blanket rule about 'no toy embedded in any non-nutritive product' but Kinder Eggs are also *specifically* listed as a banned product, and the reason given is that many of the toys are also inherently illegal in the US.

 

US toys that are choking hazards have that listed on the toy itself or the packaging of the toy - this is not the case with Kinder toys, the warning is on the exterior of the packaging of the Egg. In other words, even with the toy removed from the egg to get around the original ban reason, the toy now lacks the required warnings about being a choking hazard so remains illegal.

 

If you're willing to lie to a CBP agent and claim your Kinder toys are not in fact Kinder toys that's up to you of course - burden of proof is not an issue for border agents, just reasonable suspicion!

[LHT28]

Just buy the bars they taste much better anyway :D

 

Now I need to go buy some you have reminded me how good they are

[Langley Cruisers]

Just buy the bars they taste much better anyway :D

 

Yummy. However in my area, they are way more expensive than other name brand chocolate bars. I can save a bit by buying Bueno in a 3-pack - but YIKES! Does anyone need to do that??? :D:p:D

 

Yes.

.

[LHT28]

Yummy. However in my area, they are way more expensive than other name brand chocolate bars. I can save a bit by buying Bueno in a 3-pack - but YIKES! Does anyone need to do that??? :D:p:D

 

Yes.

.

 

But they are worth it :D