Salmonella problem at Ferrero had been known for months

It started with a suspicion and ended with a bang: Because of salmonella cases in several countries, Ferrero has to close a factory in Belgium for the time being – in the middle of the Easter business.

Frankfurt/Luxembourg/Arlon – It can hardly get any worse for a confectionery manufacturer: Salmonella, plant closures – and all this one week before Easter.

Ferrero had known about a problem at a Belgian factory for months. But now the authorities there pulled the emergency brake. Why didn’t the children’s chocolate manufacturer act sooner?

As early as December 15, the company became aware of a case of salmonella at the factory in Arlon, Belgium, according to a statement from Ferrero France in Luxembourg. Accordingly, salmonella was found there in a sieve at the outlet of two raw material tanks. The products made from it were then held back. The filter has been replaced and controls on unfinished and finished products have been increased, Ferrero said.

production stopped

On Friday, the investigations that had been initiated by the food authorities finally reached their preliminary peak. The confectionery giant has to stop production at the factory in Belgium, which has been the focus of attention for days, for the time being. The Afsca supervisory authority announced that it would revoke the production license for the factory as a result of investigations. According to the statement, Ferrero did not provide sufficient information in the investigation. In the midst of the important Easter business, Ferrero must now recall all products from the factory, regardless of their production date.

According to Afsca’s announcement, all Kinder Surprise, Kinder Mini Eggs, Kinder Surprise Maxi and Schoko-Bons made in Arlon are affected. The product Kinder Mix Easter Gift Bag, which was offered in some German test stores, is also affected by the recall. Afsca also asked all distributors to withdraw affected products from retail outlets. The Arlon plant may only reopen once all food safety rules and requirements have been met.

On Friday afternoon, Ferrero spoke up again and admitted mistakes in handling the recalls of some products. The Italian company remains vague about the reasons for the month-long gap between the discovery of the Salmonella case in Arlon and the recalls in April: “Internal inefficiencies” ensured “that there were delays in the recalls and in the exchange of information”. Therefore, the investigations into the case were not carried out as quickly and efficiently as necessary, the statement said.

Strong criticism from Foodwatch

Since the beginning of the week, the company has been recalling products from its children’s confectionery line in a number of countries after reports of several cases of salmonella being linked to the products from the Arlon factory. The German market was also affected by the recalls of the past few days. The company had initially emphasized that the recalls were purely precautionary measures.

On Thursday, Ferrero said that working with food and health authorities in Europe, it had obtained new data showing a match between the salmonella cases reported in Europe and its own Arlon plant.

However, the consumer organization Foodwatch has criticized the company heavily. “If such a mistake happens, the population must be warned immediately,” said Andreas Winkler from Foodwatch. In his opinion, personal responsibility and self-monitoring by the manufacturers are not sufficient, “transparency obligations for authorities are necessary so that cases like Ferrero must be made public immediately”.

The EU food safety authority EFSA and the EU health authority ECDC had already started investigations. The two authorities had spoken of 105 confirmed salmonella cases and 29 suspected cases on Wednesday, most of them in children under the age of ten. Certain chocolate products have been identified as a likely route of infection.

According to the consumer center, a salmonella disease manifests itself within a few days after infection with diarrhea and abdominal pain. Sometimes vomiting and a slight fever can also occur. In healthy people, the symptoms usually subside after a few days. In certain cases, however, serious illnesses can occur, especially in infants, small children, the elderly and people with a weakened immune system. dpa