According to European experts, additional investigations will be “necessary to identify the exact source and the precise moment of contamination”. No deaths were reported.
Le Monde and AFP
One hundred and fifty case of salmonellosis were detected in nine European countries, including France, reported on Tuesday 12 April, two European surveillance agencies, which denounce the responsibility of a “Belgian production plant”, a few days After the closure of the Kinder (Ferrero) site in Arlon, Belgium.
“As of April 8, 2022, one hundred and fifty confirmed and probable cases of Salmonella Typhimurium monophasic had been reported,” the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in a statement. The two agencies have “identified chocolate products manufactured by a company in its Belgian production plant as the origin of the Salmonella epidemic home,” they pursue, without mentioning the name of the Italian company specialized in Confectionery.
Infections have been produced mainly in children under 10 “and have been reported in nine European countries: France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Netherlands and Sweden.
Salmonellosis, caused by a bacterium called salmonella, causes symptoms close to those of a sometimes acute gastroenteritis: diarrhea and abdominal cramps, mild fever, or even vomiting. No deaths were reported.
“Internal failures”
According to the European experts, additional investigations will be “necessary to identify the exact source and the precise moment of contamination” and to focus on “the wider use of contaminated raw materials in other factories”.
Monday, Belgian justice has opened an investigation to establish potential responsibilities within the Arlon plant. On Friday, the Belgian Food Security Agency (AFSCA) had withdrawn its production authorization, replacing its lack of transparency on an incident in mid-December. At this time, “S. Typhimurium had been detected in a buttermilk tank from the Belgian establishment of the company in question during its own controls,” confirm EFSA and ECDC.
Despite strengthening of controls and hygiene measures, contaminated chocolate products have been distributed in Europe and the United States, leading Ferrero to recognize, Friday, “internal failures”.
Once the link is established between Kinder products and cases of salmonellosis, at the end of March, following an alert of the British authorities, reminders have been launched in several European countries and the United States. All products from the Arlon plant are now concerned , regardless of their batch number or expiry date, said Ferrero.