Kinder recalls 3000 tonnes of products after Salmonella cases

More than 3000 tonnes of Kinder products have been withdrawn from the market and a factory has been shut down after 150 people were poisoned.

More than 3000 tonnes of Kinder products have been withdrawn from the market over salmonella fears, leaving a dent of tens of millions of euros, a company official told France’s Le Parisien daily on Thursday.

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

He said the contamination could have been caused by humans or raw materials.

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

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

The first case was identified in the UK on January 7.

The factory’s closure and the health concerns were 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’s the biggest removal of products in the last 20 years,” Mr Neykov said.

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

“We have asked for a reopening from June 13 to relaunch production as soon as possible,” he added.

In April, Australian and New Zealand authorities issued an urgent recall of four Kinder products over salmonella fears.

Chocolate Kinder Eggs on display in a supermarket in Germany. Picture: Ole Spata/DPA/AFP

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

The ECDC said an unusually high proportion of children were being hospitalised, some with “severe clinical symptoms” such as bloody diarrhoea.

Based on its research, specific chocolate products were identified as the likely route of infection.

It warned some cases may be undetected due to the method of testing used not being routinely performed in all countries.

The products had been sold nationally at Coles, Woolworths, Target, Kmart, Big W, independent food retailers including IGA and petrol stations, and online.

“The recall is due to potential microbial (salmonella) contamination,” Food Standards Australia wrote in a statement.

“Food products contaminated with salmonella may cause illness if consumed. Consumers should not eat this product and should return the products to the place of purchase for a full refund.”

UK mum Charlotte Elizabeth Wingfield shared her experience on Facebook, saying she initially thought her young daughter had a stomach bug before noticing some other strange symptoms.

Ms Wingfield said her three-year-old “kept falling asleep while she was doing things” and her temperature “spiked to over 39C”.

It was later confirmed her daughter had salmonella from the Kinder chocolate she had eaten days before and begged other parents to check their chocolates and throw them away.

“She’s been completely dead behind the eyes & so lifeless, it’s been absolutely heartbreaking to see my usually fiery, adventurous & very active baby girl be the complete opposite of everything she usually is,” Ms Wingfield wrote in the post last month.

— with Chantelle Francis