But while the innocent treat can be found around the world, it's actually deemed illegal in the U. But why are Kinder eggs banned? The U. At that time, the country's Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act banned all candies embedded with " non-nutritive objects ," such as toys. So, when Kinder eggs began to be manufactured in the '70s by Italian company Ferrero, they fell under this law and were made illegal in the U. As a result, the U. Customs and Border Protection often issues press releases reminding people that these treats "may be cute and seasonal but they are too dangerous to children to be imported legally into the U.
Despite warnings, this hasn't stopped people from trying to smuggle the chocolate eggs across the border. According to the National Post, about 60, Kinder eggs were confiscated at the U.
Caroline Liebenow, an electronics assembler from Nashua, N. Liebenow, 42, said she discovered Kinder Surprise eggs while living in Finland over a decade ago.
She said she has no plans to try the Kinder Joy. Write to David Marcelis at david. All Rights Reserved. Appeared in the March 22, , print edition as 'Surprise! Your Kinder Egg Is Plastic.
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Dow Jones. By David Marcelis. Sign Up for News Updates. Sign up. Not convinced? Find out more ». Blissfully unaware that they were about to start selling a tasty tonic of death to their customers, S.
Massengill sent out shipments of the elixir in the autumn of to pharmacists across the nation. Massengill Co, resulting in them issuing telegrams requesting the elixir be sent back for a full refund, though not disclosing to pharmacists the seriousness of the issue if they ignored the telegram.
This all was capped by a short and truly heart wrenching letter by one Marie Nidiffer to President Franklin D. Roosevelt describing what happened in the days following administering the drug to her 6 year old daughter, who at the time was suffering from a sore throat:.
The first time I ever had occasion to call in a doctor for [Joan] and she was given Elixir of Sulfanilamide.
All that is left to us is the caring for her little grave. Even the memory of her is mixed with sorrow for we can see her little body tossing to and fro and hear that little voice screaming with pain and it seems as though it would drive me insane. As for Dr. Samual Evans Massengill, who owned S. Massengill Co. My chemists and I deeply regret the fatal results, but there was no error in the manufacture of the product.
We have been supplying a legitimate professional demand and no one could have foreseen the unlooked-for results. I do not feel that there was any responsibility on our part…. Needless to say, when all this came to light, the public were more than a little outraged, with S. To add to the tragedy, it appears Harold Watkins did not quite have the clear conscience of Dr. Massengill, with Watkins sadly committing suicide not long after it came to light that his error had resulted in the deaths of over people.
In the end, the Elixir Sulfanilamide Incident was the final straw, spurring the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to hopefully prevent such a tragedy from occurring again. The Act also included a small section explicitly banning the sale of any confectionery that contains either alcohol except in limited quantities, as an amazing number of things we all eat every day actually contain trace amounts of alcohol and banning any consumable product that:.
The exceptions mentioned are things like the stick of a Tootsie Pop which is embedded in the candy item, but serves a purpose and otherwise has been deemed not to make the product dangerous. Kinder Eggs, on the other hand, are essentially a chocolate, egg-shaped shell that contains a hard plastic egg, inside of which is a small toy. The answer there is actually yes, there are a handful of such occasions- though it appears never having to do with a child eating the egg and not realizing there was a toy inside.
The size of the egg makes that scenario an unlikely proposition. Paramedics were able to resuscitate her, but she later died of brain damage caused by asphyxiation. The toy was meant to be constructed by the child. However, after investigation into whether this particular confectionery should be banned, the UK Department of Trade and Industry issued a report, among other things noting,. This tragic death emphasizes again the need for parental vigilance. Unsurprisingly, this law has been challenged, most notably by Nestle, who in introduced a product called Nestle Magic essentially a not-so-subtle ripoff of the Kinder Surprise, comprising of a chocolate ball with a plastic casing inside that contained a tiny Disney character toy.
When Nestle was preparing to launch the product, the FDA explicitly notified them it was illegal under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act , but Nestle disagreed, noting the product was completely safe so should be considered one of the exceptions. Their position was backed by a report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, who did their due diligence on the candy and determined it, and the non-edible item inside, were not a choking hazard.
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