The regulatory authority AFSCA has temporarily withdrawn Ferrero’s production license until all food safety rules and requirements are met. According to the statement, Ferrero did not provide sufficient information in the investigation.
All children’s chocolate products made here have been withdrawn, regardless of production date. According to the ad, this includes all “Kinder Surprise”, “Kinder Mini Eggs”, “Kinder Surprise Maxi”, and “Schoko-Bons” made in Arlon. AFSCA also asked all distributors to remove affected products from outlets. The Arlon factory will only be able to reopen when all food safety rules and requirements are met.
105 Salmonella cases detected so far
Last week, Ferrero announced that salmonella had already been discovered at the plant on December 15, 2021. A sieve at the outlet of two raw material tanks was affected. According to the Belgian daily De Tijd, products made in the previous five days were destroyed. Meanwhile, the filter has been replaced and controls over unfinished and finished products have been increased.
According to EU authorities, 105 confirmed cases of salmonella and 29 suspected cases have been recorded so far. After the occurrence of salmonella, no notification was made to the Belgian food agency FASNK because, according to the company, this was not necessary. “We are still investigating whether Ferrero should have let us know,” FASNK spokeswoman Helene Bonte said, according to De Tijd. “I can’t help but feel that this was not handled properly,” said Eva De Bleeker, Belgium’s Secretary of State for Consumer Protection.
APA/AFP/Eric Lalmand The affected factory in Belgium
Shortly after the official closure, Ferrero himself announced that he would stop operations at the factory. The company acknowledged that “there were internal inefficiencies that resulted in delays in obtaining and sharing information in a timely manner.” This had an impact “on the speed and effectiveness of investigations”. The factory will only reopen after the authorities give their approval.
Britain sounded the alarm
The British Food Safety Authority first raised the alarm earlier this week: in Britain, it was mostly young children who contracted salmonella, the PA news agency reported last week. A short time later, Ferrero recalled a few batches of Kinder Surprise Eggs. The food safety agency said the recall had “a possible link to a salmonella outbreak”.
Also in France, Ferrero recalled products last week after 21 cases of infection, according to Paris health authorities. According to them, it is genetically the same salmonella that is responsible for an outbreak of salmonella disease in Great Britain and Ireland. The affected children’s chocolate products were all manufactured at the aforementioned factory in Arlon.
Callbacks also in Austria
In working with food and health authorities in Europe, Ferrero received new data showing a correspondence between reported salmonella cases in Europe and its own factory in Arlon, the company said.
“All the products we are recalling this week were made in December,” Ferrero spokeswoman Laurence Evard said, according to De Tijd. Since the problem was discovered, the number of tests has increased. Nothing else was found. It seems, then, that Ferrero should have recalled and destroyed more product in December – more than just five days of production. “Let’s investigate,” said Evrard.
Since the cases became known, Ferrero has had to put more and more products on the recall list, most recently some Christmas items. Children’s products were also recalled in the US. In Europe, the EU food safety authority EFSA and the EU health authority ECDC have launched investigations. According to the Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), there has not yet been a case in Austria.