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 could 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 again 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.
Source: Nachrichten
