Production stopped at the world’s largest chocolate plantrun by Swiss giant Barry Callebaut in the Belgian town of Wieze, after outbreaks of salmonella contamination were found, the firm said on Thursday.
A company spokesman told AFP that production had been protectively halted at the factory, which produces liquid chocolate in wholesale batches for 73 customers who manufacture confectionery.
So far there have been no reports of chocolate consumers infected with Salmonella.which causes salmonellosis, a disease that causes diarrhea and fever, but is only dangerous in the most extreme cases.
“All products made since the trial have been blocked,” spokesman Korneel Warlop said.
Barry Callebaut is currently contacting all customers who may have received contaminated products. Chocolate production at Wieze remains suspended until further notice.”
Most of the products found to be contaminated are still on the site, he said.
But the firm has contacted all of its clients and has asked them not to send any products they have made with chocolate made since June 25 at the Wieze plant, which is in Flanders, northwest of Brussels.
insured chocolate
“Food safety is of the utmost importance to Barry Callebaut and this contamination is quite exceptional. We have a well-defined food safety charter and procedures,” the firm said.
The Belgian food safety agency AFSCA has been informed and a spokesman told AFP it had opened an investigation.
An AFSCA spokesman said investigators would “gather all the information to trace the contamination.”
The Wieze plant does not manufacture chocolates to sell directly to consumers.and the company still has no reason to believe that contaminated products made by customers have reached store shelves.
The scare comes a few weeks after a box of chocolates contaminated with salmonella at the Ferrero factory in Arlon, in the south of Belgium, which manufactures Kinder chocolates.
Belgian health authorities said on June 17 that they had given the green light to restart the Italian giant’s factory for a three-month trial period.
