Kinder Eggs, Kinder Joy, and the Kinder Egg Ban

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One of my favorite things in Germany is the Kinder Egg.

If you’ve never heard of a Kinder Egg – or a Kinder Joy – they’re chocolate treats with toys inside the egg. On one hand, it’s surprising I don’t have a Kinder Egg in the house to photograph, as I love them; on the other hand, it’s no surprise, as I love them. I do, however, have a Kinder Joy handy:

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Kinder Eggs are hollow chocolate eggs made of delicious thin layers of delicious white and milk chocolates layered deliciously on top of each other.  The toy is found inside of a plastic egg within the chocolate egg. Kinder Joy is half an egg of toy and half an egg containing a chocolate filling with two crunchy balls resting in it. In both cases: Yum. Following the concept of German engineering, you usually have to assemble the toy somehow.

Sometimes they’re toys like you might find in a bubble gum machine, but sometimes they’re part of a theme, like a set of Bahns–

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–or even limited editions like Star Wars characters you can use to play an online game. Right now, you might score Barbie figures or Monsters University figures if you buy specially marked packages. If you look closely at the (poorly focused) photo, you’ll see that Sully has a line from one shoulder to the other armpit? That’s one of the two places you had to assemble him. Barbie’s legs popped into her skirt. The toys fit into the eggs, and you have to work for your prize. Win-win.

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Kinder Eggs are illegal in the States. Seriously. You know, because in America we assume that a child will engulf the large-egg sized chocolate egg, the inner plastic egg that does not look or taste like food, and the toy inside it. (Illegal: children with Kinder Eggs; Legal: children with guns.) I owned a choking tester when Sequoia was a baby. I really don’t think the egg enclosure found inside the Kinder Egg would fit inside the choke tube tester.

Anyway, apparently just this year a company found a way around the ban for the US (although Kinder Joy seems to meet the requirement already, so I’m not sure why they aren’t in the States?). Since I’ve seen mediocre Kinder Egg competitors here (toys usually competitive, chocolate flavor not so much), I’m interested to know if these new sneaky toys taste as good, and/or if the toys are of a similar quality. Although it is not legal for me to mail Kindereggs in return (wink, wink), I will gladly accept one in a care package as an experiment and report back. I’ll eat as many chocolate eggs as necessary to complete the experiment.

Kinder Joys are usually found on the shelves in the warmer summer months.  Apparently the tidy Germans want to avoid melted chocolate on the shelves, kids, and inner egg.

Usually, Kinder Eggs remain available in duty-free shops even throughout summer.

 

About Post Author

Kari Martindale

Kari Martindale likes words, so she uses them a lot. Kari sits on the Board of Maryland Writers' Association and is involved with various nonprofits. She writes spoken word poetry, children's books, and other stuff, like whatever blog post you just read. Kari has visited over 35 countries and all 50 States, and is always planning her next road trip. She likes her family a lot; they tolerate her just fine.
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8 thoughts on “Kinder Eggs, Kinder Joy, and the Kinder Egg Ban

    1. Looks like you’ll have to wait until after Easter/when summer rolls around. It does seem that there’s a turnover between kinder eggs and kinder joy. I don’t know of anywhere that sells them right now. Maybe an airport/large train station? They still sell the eggs in summer.

  1. Little known facts:
    #1 – According to the FDA any food product with an inedible object completely enclosed inside it is illegal in the United States. This is why things like Kinder Eggs are illegal and why things with only partially enclosed inedible objects like popsicles or blow-pops are not.
    #2 – When entering the U.S. if you declare you have Kinder Eggs they will be seized and destroyed by the Office of Field Operations (the new name for the customs officials at the border), this is a regular occurrence on the U.S. – Canadian border. Also, if you do not declare them and they are found they will be seized and destroyed and you may be fined, also a regular occurrence.
    #3 – The Office of Field Operations says they do not eat the Kinder Eggs as their method of destruction (which I doubt) but the evidence (lack of OFO officials dying from choking on Kinder Egg toys) does seem to support their claim.

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