Yesterday, an awesome Free The Egg supporter sent me the following image.
This Choco Treasure egg was purchased this past Thursday. Note the label clearly says, “Made in China with dairy products from Australia and/or New Zealand”. Keep that in mind as you read this message I received from Choco Treasure in July of last year…
Deb from Choco Treasure here. FYI, our chocolate eggs are made with Swiss Chocolate – and then formed in Turkey (not China). We moved egg production to Turkey about a year ago.
Granted, the egg might have been old, but it does not bode well that the label says one thing but the company says another.
To read the entire thread between Choco Treasure and Free the Egg, visit this site – https://freetheegg.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/415/
Free the Egg 
Hello! Just to set the record straight, we moved *all* production (including every egg on shelf this year) to Turkey. We DID form our chocolate in China (using Barry Callebaut chocolate). We have not made Choco Treasure eggs in China since 2011 and have not made any eggs or balls there since 2012.
Thanks for the clarification, Debra. We’ve had many requests for clarification on the multiple articles released through various news sources yesterday. Here are the points on which we would like Choco Treasure to respond:
* “What’s more, Kinder Surprise eggs, which are manufactured by an Italian company called Ferrero, aren’t safe for kids under 3 years old. The product is in clear violation of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission requirement, which states that candy-with-ensconced-toys must be safe for kids of all ages.”
Where is that stated? According to our research, the Ferrero Kinder Egg is banned because of the toy (a non-nutritive item) being embedded in a confectionary item. The eggs are VERY clearly marked that they are not intended for ages 0-3.
* Several articles stated that the Choco Treasure egg recently, within the past few weeks, acquired authorization to be legally sold in the United States. We know for a fact that your product has been around for years.
* Most of the articles have a picture of a Ferrero Kinder Surprise Egg. To be sure, Choco Treasure did not provide that image. Once Choco Treasure saw that the wrong image was used, did you contact the news agencies and request they place the proper photograph?
* Did Choco Treasure include the verbiage within the article that villainized the Ferrero Kinder Egg? Having written many press releases, I have rarely seen a news agency change much of a press release.
As we stated before, if the Choco Treasure egg had better quality chocolate and better quality toys, we would whole-heartedly endorse your product. But the fact is that the chocolate is very poor quality – no matter where the chocolate is from. And the toys – come on. The toys COULD be better. You have the 0-3 label. There’s no reason the Choco Treasure egg cannot have better toys.
Good afternoon! Thanks for responding and asking. We thought there was no one more passionate about surprise eggs than we are, but it seems you and the contributors here might be.
Regarding the CPSC requirement for toys to be safe for children under 3, there’s actually a good explanation from the CPSC on your website. https://freetheegg.wordpress.com/2011/04/27/cpsc-responds-to-my-email/. Our toy challenge is to create toys that are fun, fit in the capsule, and are also safe for children under 3. If you have ideas for how our toys could be better, and we’d love your help! It would be fantastic if you’d be willing to work with us on toy development. Please email me off-line.
Also, please know we’ve never made anything but positive comments about Kinder Surprise… or Ovetto Sweet, or any other top shelf surprise egg company. After all, they were the inspiration for Choco Treasure. And no, we did not supply pictures of Kinder Surprise or anything other than our products.
Regarding the chocolate, I hope you’ve had the chance to try Choco Treasure recently. The chocolate is not same as Kinder Surprise (for starters, as you know, we don’t use white chocolate), but it is absolutely high quality. We tested it with consumers and developed it for kids in the USA. We understand you love Kinder Surprise chocolate, but hope you can keep an open mind about “different but still good.”
You cite a page from our website. And, if you read through our response to the CPSC, you can see that their answer defies their ban. They state:
““[T]he manufacturer’s stated intent (such as on a label) if it is a reasonable one; the advertising, promotion, and marketing of the article; and whether the article is commonly recognized as being intended for children under 3.” It is prohibited to sell, offer for sale, manufacturer for sale, distribute in commerce or import in the United States any toy intended for children under three years of age that contains small parts.”
The Ferrero Kinder Surprise Egg is clearly marked that it is NOT intended for ages 0 to 3. Here is a link, also within our site, with an image of the label. https://freetheegg.wordpress.com/images/ We took the picture, so we know that the label is legitimate. There is not only an image that shows no 0 to 3, but a blurb that says (translated) that the egg contains a toy that might have small pieces, adult supervision is recommended.
The CPSC is acting under some other pressure to ban the eggs. We believe that there are lobbyists behind that pressure.
Your message to us states, “Our toy challenge is to create toys that are fun, fit in the capsule, and are also safe for children under 3.” Why? Why are you so determined to find toys that are safe for under three when your own label shows that the product is for 3+? When Lego sells their products, their boxes are clearly labeled. If a box says 4+, Lego does not worry about the legos within being too small for a child under the age of 4. The burden of protection falls to the parent. We, at Free the Egg, would like the US gov’t to provide us that same freedom – to decide if our child should or should not eat and play with the Ferrero Kinder Surprise Egg.
While we appreciate your request for our help in improving your product, we prefer to focus our efforts on freeing the Ferrero Kinder Surprise Egg.