The confectionery manufacturer Ferrero has withdrawn more than 3,000 tons of its children’s products, including surprise eggs, from the market on suspicion of salmonella and has suffered millions in losses as a result. The contamination came from a filter in a milk butter vat at a factory in Arlon, Belgium, Nicolas Neykov, head of Ferrero France, told Le Parisien newspaper on Thursday. It might have been caused by people or raw materials.
Chocolate products made at the Arlon factory in south-east Belgium contained salmonella, leading to 150 detected cases of salmonella poisoning in nine European countries. The factory closure and health concerns hit the owner, Italian confectionery giant Ferrero, in the middle of Easter.
“This crisis is heartbreaking. It is the largest product recall in the last 20 years,” said Neykov. However, the company hopes to get the factory up and running once more soon. In the future, 50 percent of health and safety inspections will be carried out by an approved external laboratory instead of only by internal auditors.
