Chocolate and confectionery company Ferrero recently announced a recall of some of its children’s products due to a salmonella outbreak. The new recall, as well as old rumors circulating around the internet, seemed to have joined forces to fuel a viral Facebook post that is being copied and pasted as copypasta. These posts spread misleading rumors that said images showed maggots and worms in both Kinder chocolate eggs and a product described in the reposts as “Ferrero Rocher Hazelnut Easter Eggs.”
Via email, a Ferrero company spokesman said the only reason for the recall was for salmonella, not maggots or worms. “The photo in the post doesn’t look like an infestation,” they said. “It appears to be granini, a term for the congealing of sugar and oil when the product is exposed to temperature changes. Depending on the temperature at which the product was stored, the oils and sugars can separate and then solidify, resulting in white specks throughout the spread.”
The company also confirmed to us that the product featured in the Facebook reposts was not part of a recall.
The viral Facebook post
Here are the facts. The Facebook post in question was apparently first shared earlier this month. The real name of the product pictured in the original post and reposts was Ferrero Collection Hazelnut Crunchy Eggs, not “Ferrero Rocher Hazelnut Easter Eggs”.
A repost read as follows:
REPOSED!!!!!!!!
So… that just happened! ? her! Do. Don’t. Meal. This! We got the Hazelnut Easter Eggs from Ferrero Rocher, and Maddy found these all through her. They were in EVERY egg! We looked it up and found a recall for traces of salmonella and maggots!! This recall also applies to Kindereggen and all Ferrero products. This recall has JUST been posted so they are still in stores. I know it’s close to Easter time and that’s some sweets… so be careful!!
All of this was misleading for a variety of reasons, all of which we document below.
Ferrero recall
On April 7, Ferrero in the US issued a recall of two specific product lines due to concerns about salmonella.
A company spokesman told us, “Only two products are being recalled in the United States: Kinder Happy Moments Chocolate Assortment, which will only be sold in BJ’s Wholesale Club stores and select Costco locations in the Bay Area of California and northern Nevada; and Kinder Mix Chocolate Treats Confections Assortment Basket, distributed in 14 Big Y supermarkets where this product has already been removed from store shelves. We continue to work with the FDA.”
The company also added the following about salmonella:
Salmonella is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, the frail or elderly, and others with compromised immune systems. Healthy individuals infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may contain blood), nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. In rare cases, infection with Salmonella can allow the organism to enter the bloodstream and cause more serious conditions such as arterial infections (e.g. infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.
A notice was issued on April 8 showing that the recall had been extended to several other products. Importantly, however, these additional chocolates have not been recalled in the US:
In connection with the ongoing salmonella investigations carried out in cooperation with food safety authorities, Ferrero is ceasing operations at its plant in Arlon, Belgium.
With immediate effect, the entire production of Kinder Surprise, Kinder Mini Eggs, Kinder Surprise Maxi 100g and Kinder Schokobons from Arlon will be recalled.
Ferrero acknowledges that there were internal inefficiencies that caused delays in retrieving and sharing information in a timely manner. This affected the speed and effectiveness of investigations. The facility will only reopen after official approval.
Only children’s products manufactured in Arlon, Belgium are affected by this recall. The Arlon facility accounts for approximately 7% of the total amount of children’s products manufactured worldwide each year. Local solutions will be implemented to help consumers with the recall.
According to a company press release, the problem causing the salmonella outbreak was found to be “a filter at the outlet of two commodity tanks.” It said the food authorities investigated, the filter had been removed and the problem resolved.
The key components of this recall, aside from the names of the affected products and the fact that these products were not recalled in the US, appeared to be the fact that only one facility was affected and that it represented only “approximately 7% of the total worldwide manufactured children’s products per year.” These facts were missing from the misleading Facebook reposts.
Also not included in the reposts was a corporate announcement from Ferrero detailing special new Easter products for the US that were not affected by any recall. This announcement came on the same day as one of the recall notifications, perhaps showing how isolated much of the recall was outside of the US
inconsistencies
Now that we’ve laid out the facts about Ferrero’s child recall notifications, we can look at some aspects of the viral Facebook reposts that didn’t pan out.
First, the reposts about Ferrero’s Kinder chocolate recall and Ferrero Collection Hazelnut Crispy Eggs mentioned maggots, leading Google to search for worms as well. However, as noted, neither of the company’s recall notices said anything about maggots or worms. You only mentioned salmonella. This part of the rumor may have come from users who have seen old news articles about misleading and unsubstantiated videos claiming to show maggots and worms in Ferrero Rocher chocolates.
Second, one of the recall notices noted that “the Arlon facility accounts for approximately 7% of the total volume of children’s products manufactured annually worldwide.” In the Facebook reposts, one of the images showed a screenshot of the same callback on Google. However, one of the other photos in the reposts showed the back of the packaging, which the person who took the pictures claimed was contaminated chocolates. This photo showed “Made in Italy”. This meant it was not part of these recall notices for chocolates made at the Belgian plant.
These two images are from the viral Facebook reposts. The recall notices were issued for a Ferrero plant in Belgium. The allegedly contaminated chocolate pack shown in the reposts said it was made in Italy. (Source: Facebook)
Third, Ferrero Collection Hazelnut Crispy Eggs were not affected by a recall.
Finally, considering the above information from a Ferrero company spokesman, we concluded that the viral reposts on Facebook were, at the very least, misleading.
The person who created the original Facebook post eventually deleted it, commenting on the removal: “I was forced to delete [it] because people made a fool of themselves and called me a liar and even sent me horrible DMs,” the user said. “This literally happened to us last night and I tried to warn my friends and [had] no idea it would go viral.”
The user also reported receiving what appeared to be harassing messages about family members in unrelated posts, which resulted in those being deleted as well.
Still, the viral and misleading Facebook post that mentioned “Ferrero Rocher hazelnut Easter eggs” and maggots is being shared in what appears to be countless reposts just days before the April 17 Easter holiday. Many of the reposts are likely to be private and only visible to friends, so there is no way of knowing how many times the original post and its images have been copied and pasted.
This story will be updated as we receive more information about Ferrero products.
Sources:
“EU officials investigate chocolate egg-related Salmonella cases.” AP News, 6 April 2022, https://apnews.com/article/health-europe-belgium-ireland-easter-3b8d8836e5f19ba5269441670a75e71d.
Ferrero Group. Ferrero announces the temporary suspension of operations in Arlon, Belgium and extends the recall of children’s products manufactured at the plant. April 8, 2022, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ferrero-announces-the-temporary-suspension-of-operations-in-arlon-belgium-and-extends-the-recall-of-kinder -factory-manufactured-products-301520841.html. —.
Ferrero informs about the recall of selected children’s batches and the cooperation with authorities. April 7, 2022, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ferrero-provides-update-on-recall-of-sselected-kinder-batches-and-collaboration-with-authorities-301519979.html.
Ferrero North America. Ferrero is voluntarily recalling the Kinder Happy Moments chocolate range and the Kinder Mix chocolate treat basket due to possible health risks. April 7, 2022, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ferrero-voluntarily-recalls-kinder-happy-moments-chocolate-assortment-and-kinder-mix-chocolate-treats-basket-because-of -possible-health-risk-301520594.html.
Ferrero USA announces Easter offers for 2022. April 8, 2022 http://www.ferreronorthamerica.com/fc-4985/ferrero-usa-announces-2022-easter-offerings.
“Salmonella.” Brittanica.com, https://www.britannica.com/science/Salmonella.