Wait a minute

Here’s the 1938 law.  Tell me what you think.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2010-title21/pdf/USCODE-2010-title21-chap9-subchapIV-sec342.pdf

“(d) Confectionery containing alcohol or nonnutritive substance

If it is confectionery, and—

(1) has partially or completely imbedded therein any nonnutritive object, except that this subparagraph shall not apply in the case of any nonnutritive object if, in the judgment of the Secretary as provided by regulations, such object is of practical functional value to the confectionery product and would not render the product injurious or hazardous to health;

(2) bears or contains any alcohol other than alcohol not in excess of one-half of 1 per centum by volume derived solely from the use of flavoring extracts, except that this clause shall not apply to confectionery which is introduced or delivered for introduction into, or received or held for sale in, interstate commerce if the sale of such confectionery is permitted under the laws of the State in which such confectionery is intended to be offered for sale; or

(3) bears or contains any nonnutritive substance, except that this subparagraph shall not apply to a safe nonnutritive substance which is in or on confectionery by reason of its use for some practical functional purpose in the manufacture, packaging, or storage of such confectionery if the use of the substance does not promote deception of the consumer or otherwise result in adulteration or misbranding in violation of any provision of this chapter, except that the Secretary may, for the purpose of avoiding or resolving uncertainty as to the application of this subparagraph, issue regulations allowing or prohibiting the use of particular nonnutritive substances.”

 

 

Reality? Anyone?

At what point do we fall to the floor laughing during a police investigation?  Watch and learn…

http://youtu.be/JWhSd8yh-PM  (From the show, “Elementary”)

Wait – no one laughed.  No one smirked.  No one looked amused at all.  Why?  BECAUSE THIS ISN’T REALITY!  Go tell someone that the Kinder Egg is banned.  They’ll scoff.  If they’ve actually had one, they’ll accuse you of lying.

I don’t know about you, but there is no way I’d be able to keep a straight face if I had to:

(a) accuse someone of a crime for burying Kinder Eggs

(b) was being coerced into divulging confidential patient info because of a chocolate.  A CHOCOLATE.

There are sooo many flaws.  So, so many.  List them, you say?  Ok.

1 – No one in their right mind is going to bury Kinder Eggs.

2 – No one in their right mind is going to nark on someone burying Kinder Eggs.  Go back and dig them up later?  Yes.  But nark?  No.  Blackmail them for some of them?  Probably.

3 – “A little toy that constitutes a choking hazard, which is why the FDA banned those.”  Um, no.  The FDA didn’t ban them.  The Consumer Product Safety Commission banned them.  The FDA passed a law in 1938 (1938!) that prohibits the embedding of a non-nutritive item in confections.  The CPSC is quick to say it’s because of the small parts, but this 1938 law is the true reason.  Why don’t they use it?  Because it’s a stupid law.  Period.

4 – Drunk and disorderly AND hides Kinder Eggs.  Hide your children.  The man is a menace.

Notice they didn’t use a real Kinder Egg or the proper name.  They can’t use a real one because they can’t get them for filming.  As for the name, they’d probably need some sort of legal permission to use it.  How embarrassing for a lawyer, “Um, yes.  We’d like a release to use your product’s name on our show….Yes.  The Kinder Egg….. The scene?  Um…we’re going to have police coercing a man by busting him for burying the…um…the chocolate egg.”  Good grief.

In all, the scene is absurd, BUT I’m grateful for it.  Maybe more people will see it and realize how the ban is stupid.  And laughable.

If there ARE any shrinks out there in the Kinder Egg black market business, shoot me a message.  You’re my kind of doc.

The Egg on TV

The word is getting out more! I sent an email to Ms Holmes. Hoping to get a response. We will eventually find our next help in the media. The petition being in Food Network helped quite a bit! The more people hear about our effort, the better our chances of freeing the egg. Who will be our next advocate? http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/04/22/hot-list-banned-foods-in-the-united-states/
In the meantime, PLEASE write to your members of Congress and the CPSC! Without YOUR action, the egg cannot be freed!

Another Blog Push for the Egg!

I have an amazing friend who (despite her poor taste in football teams – gotta get a dig in when I can) has always been there for me – deployments, tantrums over clothes that no longer fit, sick kids, etc…  She has a great blog and, true to her best friend nature, has devoted her latest blog post to Free The Egg.  Here it is.  Enjoy  –  and add her to your blogs to follow!  http://coffeeandcrazy.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-ridiculous-kinder-egg-ban.html

Silly America, small parts aren’t for kids

A big thank you to Amanda Alvidrez for alerting us to a violator. She recently bought a Choco Treasure ball. The toy on the inside had small pieces and the packaging had no age recommendation or small parts warning. We know Choco Treasure keeps up with our page – y’all might want to get a warning on your package. You had them on there before. The CPSC will get ya. (And now we’d like to ask again why they are legal in the US and Kinder isn’t. I know they say it’s because you can see the plastic container when you take off the foil, but the CPSC says that Kinder is illegal because of small parts…and Kinders do carry a warning and age recommendation. Interesting.)

PS  That press release last year saying that Kinder Eggs were legal now in the US (lies, lies, lies) and then pushing your product?  Low blow.  Low, low blow.

Sample letter

Dear Sir or Madam,

In 1938, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibited the embedding of non-nutritive items in confections. This obscure law has resulted in a ban on a popular childhood treat that is sold in over 100 countries around the world. The Ferrero Kinder Egg became a part of family tradition in 1972. Its delicious chocolate shell surrounds a sealed plastic capsule which holds a small toy or puzzle. The eggs are marketed to kids ages three and up and are as widely proliferated and recognizable to children across the world as McDonalds Happy Meals are to our kids.

In 1997, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled Kinder Eggs from shelves in stores across the United States. Citing this 1938 law, Sec. 402. [21 USC 342] Adulterated Food

Note: revisions were posted to this section in December 2007.

A food shall be deemed to be adulterated

(d) Confectionery containing alcohol or nonnutritive substance. If it is confectionery, and

(1) has partially or completely imbedded therein any nonnutritive object, except that this subparagraph shall not apply in the case of any nonnutritive object if, in the judgment of the Secretary as provided by regulations, such object is of practical functional value to the confectionery product and would not render the product injurious or hazardous to health;

We believe the intent of this law is to protect people from objects hidden in food of which they are not aware. Ferrero Kinder Surprise Eggs are clearly labeled and marketed as having a toy inside.  The toys are secured in a plastic capsule that is not easy to open and too large to swallow.  Parents have the responsibility to protect their children from all types of dangerous items around the house 24 hours a day. We do not believe the introduction of this treat adds any new level of threat. Since the adult who purchases the egg knows there is a toy inside, the toy can be supervised with less effort than administering a child his first solid food, preparing for losing a first tooth, or any number of parenting challenges we are able to navigate every day. In addition, each Kinder Egg is clearly marked with a label stating the toy is not intended for ages 0 to 3. The labels have the exact same image warning as other products currently sold in the United States.  This warning puts the burden of responsibility on the purchaser.

Since 1997, there have been 7 documented cases of children fatally choking on the toys inside the eggs.  If you factor in the 30 billion made since 1991, you get a .023% mortality rate.  The mortality rate for lightning strikes in the United States from 1995 to 2006 is .2%.  (http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/jeh5_05_45-50.pdf)
2011 Customs and Border Protection sent out a reminder that the eggs are illegal.  (http://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/2012-04-05-040000/dont-be-surprised-kinder-eggs-seizures-double)  Note that “In fiscal year 2010, CBP seized nearly 25,000 Kinder Eggs in 1,700 separate incidents. While there are some commercial-sized seizures that occur, most Kinder Eggs are seized in personal baggage or at mail and express consignment facilities.”  Ferraro sells 1.5 billion eggs worldwide each year.

In fiscal year 2011, over 60,000 Kinder eggs were confiscated.  I’m sure that our border patrol agents and postal workers have more important things to do with their time than search for chocolate eggs.  Each egg can warrant a fine of $2,500.  The fine for one ounce of marijuana is $500.  One ounce of cocaine or heroin is $1,000.  Ridiculous enough?  If not, add this in – when the postal service confiscates an egg, they send out a nine page letter to the recipient.  Nine pages of wasted paper, ink, and postage.  Another waste of time and money is the raids on stores that have been conducted on behalf of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The grassroots movement, Free The Egg, contacted the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 2011.  (You can read the full correspondence at https://freetheegg.wordpress.com/2011/04/27/cpsc-responds-to-my-email/)  The CPSC stated, “The CPSC staff considered the toys marketed with Ferarro Kinder Surprise Eggs to be intended for children under three years of age.”  The package marketing for the chocolate egg and toy are clearly for those over the age of three.  We question if the CPSC’s decision was within legal bounds.  They overrode a company’s clear intent.  Their complete answer defies logic.
We ask you to please look into this matter and help us restore the Ferrero Kinder Egg to shelves in the United States. This small matter can bring joy to millions of American children.  For further information and documentation of the facts above, please visit www.FreeTheEgg.com  You can also view a petition that has been signed by over 4,000 Americans at http://www.petitiononline.com/freeegg/petition.html

 

Sincerely,

 

The time has come…

Please go to our new page (https://freetheegg.wordpress.com/the-next-step-we-need-you/) to help in the next step. It is vitally important that we have YOUR help! I’ll be posting a sample letter in the next blog post.

Time to take action!

Here’s the plan. In the next few days, I’ll be adding a page to our website. That page will have a table of all the states plus the CPSC. We’ll provide specific facts about the ban (including stats). With the facts, we’d like each of you to contact your state’s Congressional members and the CPSC. We’ll also provide a form letter, for those who want it. We ask that you let us know when you contact folks. We will keep a tally of contacts per state and of responses. Please hold off until the page is up. We want to blast them together. The petition should be included, as a link, in your contact. If we close the petition, no one else will be able to sign. If this effort doesn’t work, we will continue collecting signatures and keep working to free the egg….but hopefully this will work! I’ll try to get the page up and running tomorrow. Let’s Free The Egg!#FreeTheEgg

HOLY KINDER EGG!

I cannot believe what just happened.  I love Food Network Magazine.  About an hour ago, I’m flipping through the pages and what do I see?  This:

Do you see that??  That’s our petition!!!  AAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!  Wahoo!!!  ~just a *tad* excited~  Let’s Free the Egg!!