Category Archives: Salmonella in Chocolate

Research – Barry Callebaut takes $77 million hit in Salmonella incident

Posted on November 2, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

A Salmonella contamination incident cost candy producer Barry Callebaut $77 million, according to the company’s full-year results.

The impact of the problem was CHF 76.9 million Swiss Francs ($77.3 million) in the fiscal year 2021/22, which ended on Aug. 31, 2022.

The Salmonella incident at the Wieze factory in Belgium and temporary production stoppage, followed by a gradual ramp-up toward the end of the fiscal year, had a “notable impact” on volume and profit in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa region. There was a loss because operations were paused at the factory.

As of October, cleaning of the factory was nearing completion and it began operating again at normal capacity after production was stopped in late June.

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Posted in Decontamination Microbial, food bourne outbreak, Food Illness, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Illness, microbial contamination, Microbial growth, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Microbiology Risk, outbreak, Salmonella, Salmonella in Chocolate

Belgium – Barry Callebaut site back to normal after Salmonella scare

Posted on October 24, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

A Barry Callebaut chocolate factory in Belgium is back operating at full capacity after a Salmonella contamination scare earlier this year.

Cleaning of the factory in Wieze is nearing completion so it has returned to running at normal levels after operations were stopped in late June.

“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to our customers for their understanding during this difficult period, and to all our employees who worked tirelessly for weeks to get the Wieze factory up and running again,” said Peter Boone, CEO of Barry Callebaut.

The company previously warned the incident is expected to have a significant financial impact when the full year result figures are published in November.

Mondelez was one of several companies impacted, as it is supplied by Barry Callebaut. The alert meant it had to limit the retail availability of several ranges of biscuits.

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Posted in Decontamination Microbial, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Microbiology Risk, Salmonella, Salmonella in Chocolate

Canada – UNREAL brand dark chocolate coconut minis recalled due to Salmonella

Posted on October 24, 2022 by | Leave a comment

CFIA

Summary

Product
dark chocolate coconut minis
Issue
Food – Microbial Contamination – Salmonella
What to do

Do not consume, use, sell, serve, or distribute recalled products

Unreal - Dark Chocolate Coconut Minis - 454 g - back
Unreal - Dark Chocolate Coconut Minis - 454 g - front

Affected products

Issue

The affected product is being recalled from the marketplace due to possible Salmonella contamination.

The recalled product has been sold in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

What you should do

  • If you think you became sick from consuming a recalled product, contact your healthcare provider
  • Check to see if you have recalled products
  • Do not consume, serve, use, sell, or distribute recalled products
  • Recalled products should be thrown out or returned to the location where they were purchased

Food contaminated with Salmonella may not look or smell spoiled but can still make you sick. Young children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems may contract serious and sometimes deadly infections. Healthy people may experience short-term symptoms such as fever, headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal cramps and diarrhea. Long-term complications may include severe arthritis.

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Posted in food contamination, food handler, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Safety Management, Food Testing, Salmonella, Salmonella in Chocolate

Netherlands – Safety warning Ferrero Children’s Chocolate Chips 300 gram Jumbo- Salmonella

Posted on October 18, 2022 by | Leave a comment

NVWA

Safety warning Ferrero Children’s Chocolate Chips 300 gram Jumbo

Jumbo recalls Ferrero Kinder Schokobons 300 grams with best before date 05-10-2022 or earlier. Salmonella bacteria may be present in this product. Do not eat this product!

See Jumbo’s website

Which product is it?

  • Product: Children’s Schokobons 300 grams
  • Barcode: 4008400280127
  • Best before (best before): 05-10-2022 or an earlier date

The Kinder Schokobons with an expiration date of 05-10-2022 or earlier were recalled by Ferrero in April this year. Unfortunately, a small part of this was recently delivered by Jumbo to a limited number of stores. Immediately after this became known, Jumbo removed all stock of this product from all stores as a precaution. At the same time, Jumbo is conducting a public recall. 

Sincerely

The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority

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Posted in food contamination, food handler, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Safety Management, Food Testing, NVWA, Salmonella, Salmonella in Chocolate

Netherlands – Dutch retailer issues recall after Ferrero chocolate error – Salmonella

Posted on October 18, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

A Dutch retailer has issued a recall after mistakenly sending Ferrero chocolate potentially contaminated with Salmonella to market.

Jumbo is recalling Ferrero Kinder Schokobons 300 grams with an expiry date of Oct. 5, 2022 or earlier.

These products were recalled by Ferrero in April this year in relation to a multi-country monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak. However, Jumbo said some chocolate had recently been delivered to a limited number of stores.

The retailer added that as soon as the error became known, all stock was removed from stores as a precaution.

Jumbo asked customers not to consume the affected Ferrero Kinder Schokobons and to return them to one of its stores.

Official figures show the Netherlands had three cases related to the outbreak that affected more than 450 people from December 2021 to June 2022.

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Posted in food bourne outbreak, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, outbreak, Salmonella, Salmonella in Chocolate

Serbia – Lidl withdraws certain brand of waflles from its shelves as a precautionary measure- Salmonella

Posted on October 7, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Serbian Monitor

Lidl in Serbia has informed consumers that, as a precautionary measure, it has withdrawn from sale the products of Pak Rampart (from Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina).

The Lidl Company is urging shoppers not to consume them, but rather to return them (there is no need to show the receipt) and they will be reimbursed for the money spent.

The following wafers were withdrawn:

Cocoa-flavoured wafers – a product with 72% cocoa filling, 800g pack,

Hazelnut-flavoured wafers – a product with 72% hazelnut-flavoured filling, 800g pack,

Waffle with cocoa filling – produced with 80% cocoa filling, 200-gram pack,

Waffle with hazelnut-flavoured filling – produced with 80% hazelnut-flavoured filling, 200-gram pack

Waffle with cocoa topping – the product with 57% cocoa filling, coated with 20% cocoa topping, 200-gram pack.

“The products were withdrawn due to the possibility of the presence of Salmonella Typhimurium bacteria, as regular checks in Croatia determined its presence in two production batches,” announced Lidl.

Samples of products from the shelves in Serbia were, as mentioned, sent to local laboratories for thorough testing, and the relevant institutions were also informed.

The retailer and the manufacturer have apologised to all consumers who bought the mentioned products for the inconvenience.

(Seebiz.eu, 05.10.2022)

https://www.seebiz.eu/tvrtke/lidl-u-srbiji-povlaci-pet-proizvoda-zbog-moguceg-prisustva-salmonele/282444

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Posted in food contamination, food handler, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Safety Management, Food Testing, Salmonella, Salmonella in Chocolate

Israel – Strauss gets approval to reopen chocolate plant after Salmonella closure

Posted on September 1, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

Strauss Group has been given permission to restart a factory in Israel that was shut months because of Salmonella findings.

The confectionery manufacturing site in Nof Hagalil will gradually return to production following a thorough clean-up of the plant and investments in infrastructure.

Food inspectors from the Israeli Ministry of Health allowed the resumption of operations after an audit. Agency officials will continue inspections of the plant as part of the return to full production. Strauss Group said this ramp up may take several months.

Approval was suspended in April after a recall of Elite brand products and link to an outbreak prompted an audit which found a number of issues at the factory including Salmonella on a production line and in the liquid chocolate used to make finished products. Elite products were recalled from United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Europe and the United Kingdom.

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Posted in Decontamination Microbial, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Microbiology Risk, Research, Salmonella, Salmonella in Chocolate

EU – 15 July update: Monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak linked to chocolate products

Posted on August 4, 2022 by | Leave a comment

ECDC

As of 15 July 2022, 401 confirmed (n=399) and probable (n=2) cases of monophasic S. Typhimurium have been identified in the EU/EEA and the United Kingdom. This is an increase of nine cases since the last update on 3 June 2022. The latest reported case is from the UK with sampling date on 16 June 2022. In addition, cases have been identified in Canada (n=4), Switzerland (n=49), and United States (n=1), bringing the total number of cases to 455 globally.

This outbreak is characterised by high proportion of hospitalised (about 40%) cases, most of these are children below 10 years of age, and some cases with severe clinical symptoms like bloody diarrhoea.

Affected cases have been identified through advanced molecular typing techniques. As this method of testing is not routinely performed in all countries, some cases may be undetected.

Based on epidemiological and microbiological investigations, specific chocolate products from a Belgian chocolate factory were identified as likely vehicles of infection.

The factory was closed on 8 April 2022 (week 14) and product recalls were launched globally. The recalls aimed to prevent the consumption of products potentially contaminated with Salmonella. As a result of control measures, number of cases have declined rapidly.

Further investigations are needed to identify the root cause of the contamination, and to ensure that contaminated products are not put on the market.

Table 1. Number of confirmed and probable cases of monophasic S. Typhimurium in the EU/EEA, the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland and the United States, as of 15 July 2022

Country Confirmed cases Probable cases Total number of cases
Austria 14 0 14
Belgium 64 2 66
Czech Republic 1 0 1
Denmark 4 0 4
France 121 0 121
Germany 34 0 34
Ireland 18 0 18
Italy 1 0 1
Luxembourg 2 0 2
Netherlands 3 0 3
Norway 1 0 1
Spain 3 0 3
Sweden 5 0 5
Total EU/EEA 271 2 273
United Kingdom 128 0 128
Total EU/EEA and UK 399 2 401
Canada 4 0 4
Switzerland 49 0 49
United States 1 0 1
Total 453 2 455

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Posted in food bourne outbreak, Food Illness, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Illness, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Microbiology Risk, outbreak, Salmonella, Salmonella in Chocolate

450 sick in Ferrero chocolate Salmonella outbreak

Posted on August 3, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

A Salmonella outbreak linked to Kinder chocolate has sickened more than 450 people, based on the latest figures.

Only 10 cases have been reported in the month since the previous European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) update, bringing the total to 455 as of mid-July.

The outbreak has hospitalized a high proportion of people, mostly children younger than 10 years of age, and some had severe clinical symptoms including bloody diarrhea.

The latest monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium case is from the United Kingdom with a sampling date of June 16. Concerns were previously raised by authorities that potentially contaminated chocolate could still be on sale despite a recall in April.

The UK has the most patients with 128 followed by France with 121. Belgium has recorded 66 sick people, 49 are ill in Switzerland, 34 in Germany, 18 in Ireland and 14 in Austria. There are still four cases in Canada and one in the United States.

Sweden, Spain, Norway, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Denmark and Czech Republic all have single-figure case numbers.

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Posted in food bourne outbreak, Food Illness, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Illness, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Microbiology Risk, outbreak, Salmonella, Salmonella in Chocolate

RASFF Alerts – Salmonella – Polish Chicken Products – Chocolate Products

Posted on July 22, 2022 by | Leave a comment

RASFF

Salmonella Tennessee in chocolate products in Belgium and Italy

RASFF

Salmonella in chicken kebab from Poland in Austria

RASFF

Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella spp. in chicken neck skin samples from Poland in Belgium, Czech Republic, Italy, Lithuania, Spain and Slovakia

RASFF

Salmonella Newport detected in Chicken Fillets from Poland in Italy

RASFF

Detection of Salmonella Typhimurium on poultry fresh meat in France and Germany

RASFF

Salmonella spp. in chilled chicken meat from Poland in France and Germany

RASFF

Salmonella enterica ser. Enteritidis (present /25g) in chilled poultry meat from Poland in the Netherlands

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Posted in food contamination, food handler, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Safety Management, Food Testing, Polish Chicken Salmonella, RASFF, Salmonella, Salmonella in Chicken, Salmonella in Chocolate, Salmonella Poland