product to have a higher milk content and make that a key part of its promotion; he believed mothers would respond well to the idea of giving their children more milk. Ferrero commissioned William Salice to realize the concept. The Italian company Ferrero began manufacturing Kinder Surprises in 1974. Since then around 30 billion eggs have been sold worldwide. Salice, who has been credited as the inventor of Kinder Surprise but insisted he was just "material executor", died in Italy in December 2016, at the age of 83. Collections and promotion The toys within Kinder Surprise have been themed for various popular licensed characters. Collections of Kinder Surprise toys have included Asterix, Fantasmini, Smurfs, and Minions. Ferrero and Kinder have also partnered with various companies, institutions, and people to promote Kinder Surprise, including The Walt Disney Company, Universal, and Smart. Safety concerns United Kingdom In 2000, three families who had lost children to choking on toys inside edible eggs campaigned for the products to be withdrawn from the European Union. Ten children worldwide have died from choking on parts of the Kinder toy surprises after they had eaten the chocolate egg; another was attributed to another manufacturer's product. Defenders of the chocolates said that these had been unfortunate fatalities. This was discussed in the House of Commons and also by the Department of Trade and Industry which said, "The child’s tragic death was caused by the ingestion of a small part of the egg’s contents. Many other products and toys with small parts are available in the market place. If we were to start banning every product that could be swallowed by a child, there would be very few toys left in the market". United States The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibits confectionery products that contain a “non-nutritive object”, unless the non-nutritive object has functional value. Essentially, the Act bans "the sale of any candy that has embedded in it a toy or trinket". In 1997, the staff of the Consumer Product Safety Commission examined and issued a recall for some Kinder Surprise illegally brought into the US with foreign labels. The staff determined that the toys within the eggs had small parts. The staff presumed that Kinder Surprise, being a chocolate product, was intended for children of all ages, including those under three years of age. On this basis, the staff took the position that Kinder Surprise