Kinder Surprise eggs have been illegal in the USA since 1938 — before they were invented
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The United States's 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act bans the sale of confectionery with a "non-nutritive object" embedded inside — a category Kinder Surprise eggs fall into precisely because they contain a toy inside the chocolate. The law predates Kinder eggs by 33 years (they were invented in 1974). The US border agency has seized millions of Kinder eggs at the border. Kinder Joy, a different product with the toy in a separate sealed half, is legal in the US because the toy is not embedded in the food.
An egg-shaped chocolate was made illegal by a law passed 33 years before the product existed. The law has not been updated since 1938.
The Science Behind It
The United States's 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act bans the sale of confectionery with a "non-nutritive object" embedded inside — a category Kinder Surprise eggs fall into precisely because they contain a toy inside the chocolate. The law predates Kinder eggs by 33 years (they were invented in 1974). The US border agency has seized millions of Kinder eggs at the border. Kinder Joy, a different product with the toy in a separate sealed half, is legal in the US because the toy is not embedded in the food.
Why Your Brain Finds This Hard to Believe
OddlyHuman Editorial
VerifiedWritten and fact-checked by the OddlyHuman Behavioral Science Team. We verify all psychological, sociological, and historical claims against peer-reviewed journals, primary sources, and established encyclopedias to bring you accurate insights.
Read our Editorial Guidelines →“Kinder Surprise eggs are illegal in the US under a 1938 law — passed 33 years before Kinder eggs were invented.”