Kinder Pulls 3,000 Tons of Chocolate from Market over Salmonella Concerns

Kinder has pulled more than 3,000 tons of its products from the market over salmonella concerns, causing a loss of tens of millions of euros, a company official told the French daily Le Parisien.

"The contamination came from a refinery with a dairy butter pot at the Arlon factory in Belgium," said Nicolas Nikoff, president of Ferrero France. "The contamination may have been human-caused or from raw materials, adding that it was the largest recall of products in the past 20 years."

Chocolate products made at the factory in Arlon, southeast Belgium, have been found to contain salmonella, resulting in 150 cases in nine European countries.

It is reported that it was discovered that chocolate products made at the Arlon factory in southeastern Belgium contain salmonella, which led to 150 cases of infection in nine European countries, and the first case was identified in the United Kingdom on January 7.

The factory shutdown and health concerns were a blow to its owner, Italian confectionery giant Ferrero, as the shutdown came at the height of the Easter holiday season when Kinder chocolates are in great demand.

The company had hoped to be able to start the plant again, with 50 percent of the health and safety checks being done by an accredited "external laboratory" in the future, rather than the previous system of only internal reviews.

"We have requested the reopening from June 13 to restart production as soon as possible," Nikov added.

In April, Australian and New Zealand authorities issued an urgent request to recall four Kinder products over salmonella concerns.

It was a precautionary step about a possible link to a number of salmonella cases reported in Europe, which are under investigation by the European Food Safety Authority and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

The CDC said an unusually high percentage of children are hospitalized, some with "severe clinical symptoms" such as bloody diarrhea.

Based on the center's research, certain chocolate products have been identified as the potential route of infection. He warned that some cases may go undetected due to the testing method used that is not routinely performed in all countries.