MORE than 3,000 tonnes of Kinder products have been withdrawn from the market over salmonella fears, leaving a dent of tens of millions of euros, a company official told France’s Le Parisien daily yesterday.

Ferrero France head Nicolas Neykov said the contamination came “from a filter located in a vat for dairy butter”, at a factory in Arlon, Belgium.

The contamination could have been caused by humans or raw materials, he added.

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

Eighty-one of these cases were in France, mainly affecting children under 10 years old.

The factory’s closure and the health concerns are blows to its owner, Italian confectionery giant Ferrero, coming at the height of the Easter holiday season when its Kinder chocolates are sought-after supermarket buys.

“This crisis is heartbreaking. It is the biggest removal of products in the last 20 years,” said Neykov.

But the company hopes to be able to start up the factory again, with 50% of health and safety inspections to be carried out by an approved “external laboratory” in future, instead of the previous system of only internal reviews.

“We have asked for a reopening to relaunch production as soon as possible from June 13.” – AFP, May 27, 2022.