That reminds me of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinder_Surprise Kinder Surprise eggs are legal in Canada and Mexico, but are illegal to import into the US. In January 2011, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) threatened a Manitoba resident with a 300 Canadian dollar fine for carrying one egg across the US border into Minnesota. In June 2012, CBP held two Seattle men for two and a half hours after discovering six Kinder Surprise eggs in their car upon returning to the US from a trip to Vancouver. According to Joseph Cummings of Seattle, Washington, one of the men detained, a border guard quoted the potential fine as "$2,500 per egg". As of 2017 Kinder Joy eggs, a similar product, are being sold in the United States. Instead of a toy being encased in a chocolate egg, it is in an egg-shaped plastic package with the toy and chocolate separated. Kinder Surprise eggs are still illegal in the US, but remain popular on the black market.
So the kids don't accidentally eat the toy, I guess. I've had a couple of those back when they were legal. At least I think they were--they were gifts.
It may have happened, but the law was originally passed for other reasons. IIRC, Cracker Jack is allowed to put the toys in on account of those toys being wrapped or nobody putting the snacks directly into their mouths. Whatever the reason is, there is one. Here's someone who claimed to have smuggled the Kinder eggs. https://able2know.org/topic/326657-1 Something that forum made me realize...have I been mispronouncing the name of the egg wrong?
You're old, but not that old. They've been banned since the '30s and first made in the '70s. So, ignoring Myanmar and Liberia, they've never been legal in a country that does not use the metric system.
My oldest made me swear on a Bible that I would stop illegally smuggling things across the border when I gave him a carton full after a work trip to Toronto a while back. I am not a good Christian though. Just last year we smuggled our hockey sticks across the border to avoid the 145% tariff in place at the time. Jesus was okay with it though because we taped them up and passed a puck back and forth a couple times while in Sarnia -- thus making them used.
Relatives from Germany used to bring them back for my kids on occasion. As I recall, the issue wasn't just that they contain small toys, but that the toys are made from smaller pieces that snap together and that those small pieces are very much a choking hazard. It's funny, the difference mindsets countries have about risk tolerance and litigation. The playground equipment I saw in Germany and Switzerland (I traveled there with my son when he was four) was something you'd just never see in the States. The kids loved it. Like this long, tubular metal slide outside of Frieburg or an old school metal erector set kind of playground set-up in Switzerland. Both of them lawsuits waiting to happen in the US.
Some boomers seem to love the metal slides. (Then again, people just miss whatever they had in their youth before the world of taxes, bills, kids, etc etc.) Those slides aren't missed at all. What I don't understand is the playgrounds that are still blacktop and not rubber or whatever is used now...why?
Oh @Kryptonite go quiver in the corner being afraid of everything. The old playgrounds were the best and kids weren't afraid of falling, getting tetanus or breaking bones.
And they rode bikes around the neighborhood and were always home for dinner! Nowadays, they don't ride bikes around the neighborhood and aren't home for dinner!
Actual playground, 1912. Back then the adults weeded out the weaker kids who didn’t show World War-winning ability. pic.twitter.com/KzPhOQ0xXH— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) May 27, 2023
Kinder like kindergarten.... Hmm, I wonder where I got them. The toys were pretty cool--they let kids build little buildings, for example. One was a (German) post office.
I was right. I'm guessing someone smuggled the toy in (technically speaking, this might not be llegal). In theory, could someone visit another country, eat the egg and bring the toy back home without repercussions?
Anyone at the Ecuador v Guatemala friendly today? Game took a few mins to start because it seemed like someone forgot the Guatemalan goalkeepers jersey, he was wearing an outfield Ecuador jersey pregame. There was a last minute scramble and he changed to a different shirt before the game started. Maybe the uber just arrived from the hotel with the jersey? lol Stadium is half full, if that, and loud AF.
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/somali-referee-denied-entry-us-155115048.html A Somali ref won the "Best Male Referee" for CAF in 2025. Now? He got denied entry into the USA for World Cup duty. His visa was valid.
I believe those are the safe/approved ones with the toy being separated. They're in all sorts of grocery stores and I was excited to see them...until I realized they're the safe/approved ones.
Ah, well. My daughter was excited to see them. I seem to recalling having seen them at World Market, now that you mention it.
In fact they are. These are "Kinder Surprise" eggs, as "Überraschung" translates into "Surprise". What remains illegal is Kinder Joy eggs.
The Visa is irrelevant, as is his status as the best damn referee in CAF. Because he is a resident of a country that is barred from immigration currently, CBP is required to do a background check. They found some things - we don't know what, exactly - that officials at the airport felt disqualified him from entry. Usually this involves past criminal activity.