Europe has never experienced a food scandal of this magnitude. Following the salmonella outbreak at a Ferrero factory in Belgium, 119 cases have now been confirmed in Europe. Authorities have evidence that the bacteria may have been in buttermilk.
During inspections by the factory operator in Arlon, Belgium, the bacterium Salmonella Typhimurium was discovered in a buttermilk tank as early as December 2021, the EU health authority ECDC announced on its ongoing investigations.
Enormous image damage
The company has implemented hygiene measures and increased testing of the products and the processing environment. But: After negative salmonella tests, the chocolate products were then sold throughout Europe and worldwide. In retrospect, a big mistake. Ferrero will lose a lot of money in the current Easter business. The image damage is enormous.
Most of those infected are children under the age of ten, many of whom had to be hospitalized. The Belgian authorities only reacted after days. Then at least hard. The factory had to completely shut down production. No more surprise eggs and chocolate bunnies.
First confirmed cases in Switzerland
The salmonella scandal has long since reached Switzerland. Numerous concerned customers have reported to Migros and Coop in recent days who wanted to know whether the chocolate they bought or ate could also be infected with salmonella.
For days there have been the first suspected cases of salmonellosis in Switzerland in connection with the Ferrero recalls. The federal government is now also linking the cases of illness in Switzerland to the international outbreak.
Whether this outbreak of infectious diarrhea was related to children’s chocolate products from the Italian confectionery group Ferrero was initially not proven and is currently being investigated, as the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (BLV) announced on Friday.
In cooperation with the responsible cantonal enforcement authority, Ferrero Switzerland recalled almost forty children’s products due to possible contamination, as the Federal Office for Consumer Affairs (BFK) announced a week ago. (pbe/uro)