Apr 14 2009
Chocolate Eggs Siezed At Customs!
I know this is off topic, but it made me so mad and I thought it was just dumb enough to be hilarious that I had to share it here. Some of you may or may not know that my husband is a German national, he immigrated here to the United States in 2001 to be with me. His family and friends are still in Germany and they often send us his favorite things, anything from magazines to chocolate. My 3 year old granddaughter loves these special chocolate eggs called Kinder Uebarraschungs Eier (Childrens Suprise Eggs), they are hollow chocolate, shaped like an egg with a plastic capsule inside (about the size of a small egg) with a small toy that usually requires assembly. We tell her that her great grandparents from germany have a chocolate delivery bird who brings them (we do this because we get about a dozen at a time and don’t want her to know that because she will want them all at once), she loves this, every day she asks if the “Chocolate bird” came LOL! Ah the innocence of children. 
Anyway, I digress. Well one of my husband’s friends sent my him some of his favorite german television shows on dvd and along with that, a small Easter package with Kinder chocolate, which included a chocolate bunny, some small chocolates and 2 of the Kinder chocolate surprise eggs–the kinder chocolate is great for small children because it does not melt as fast as regular chocolate and is a little firmer, not hard, but almost chewy. Well… I guess U.S. Customs decided to open this package of chocolate goodies and investigate them. We noticed that it had been cut open with a box cutter (the childrens package) and it was obvious that a few things were missing. Later in the day we recieved a certified letter from customs telling us that they had confiscated the Kinder Surprise Eggs because they were a “threat” to the United States!!! Are you kidding me?? Chocolate eggs??? There was no other explaination except that the value of the eggs was assessed to be $2.00 american. I am assuming it was the small toys inside that may have small parts, I can’t figure any other reason these would be confiscate but all the other chocolates, including some of my favorite german chocolate bars were ok to send. I guess you could put a small explosive device in an egg sized chocolate.. do you think?? Anyway, after we got over the surprise and the anger at the stupidity of it, we had a good laugh. Have any of you had any similar experiences? What do you think, could these innocent looking chocolate candies be a threat to US Security?? LOL!! Go Figure.
I think there are a number of things you could hide in that capsule - drugs, for one.
Also the small parts might be dangerous, but I don’t see Customs keeping them for that reason.
Maybe the grandparents could send along an English description of what is in the eggs. It’s a shame their granddaughter didn’t get them.
Maxie
My cousin sends me packages from Germany as she is there since her husband is stationed there in the military. I will have to notice if any of our boxes are tampered with!!
Ask for the Kinder Happy Hippos for your grand-daughter!! OMGosh so delicious and so cute too!!
I can only think of one explanation - I heard that the powers that be are cracking down on “unsafe” toys, i.e. unless there is proof that the paint is lead-free, for example, they aren’t allowed in. I don’t have the full scope of the crackdown, and whether it’s already in place or not - I just remember seeing many etsy-related blogs up in arms about the ruling, because it impacts home-made crafts too.
Cashmere: Oh you should try them, the chocolate is heavenly!
MaxieGirl: As far as the drugs go, yes I suppose they could have drugs in them, you never know these days. As far as my in laws putting an English description on the package, they only speak German so that’s out.
Ausetkmt: LOL! That’s hilarious!! You’re a funny lady! Careful with those dirty undies, they might enjoy that just a little too much!
SLColman: Happy Hippos? Sounds good! I asked my hubby about them and he only knows about the little hippo toys that come inside the eggs, I guess they are very popular collector’s items in Germany.. we’ll have to ask about the Happy Hippo Candies.
Laane: That sounds like a fun game, but not really fair because some of the toys are so much easier to assemble. LOL! Not a bad idea informing Ferrero about it, maybe they can start distributing them in the USA!
Lynne: Oooh.. that’s something I hadn’t thought of (lead paint), I guess it is for our protection, but I think you’re probably right!
Thank you all for your comments!
We still love giving these little goodies to my granddaughter and she loves them, we’ll find a way to get something like them I suppose. I’m glad you all stopped by!
You can buy the kinder surprise eggs in the US and Canada as well… I can’t believe they seized them that is ridiculous lol
Seems extra awful that is was a childrens easter package though… with the technology they have I cant believe they couldnt figure out the were harmless without removing the eggs.