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The Ferrero The chocolate factory in the Belgian town of Arlon, which was closed after salmonella contamination, has been authorized by the Federal Food Safety Agency to resume production – albeit with conditions.
For three months
Ferrero is allowed to produce chocolate again in the Arlon factory. This production unit had to close its doors on April 8 after salmonella contaminations were linked to products from Kinder Surprise, Kinder Surprise Maxi, Kinder Mini Eggs and Schoko chocolates in several European countries.
The Belgian Federal Food Safety Agency now grants the factory a conditional authorization for a period of three months. “During this period, each batch of food produced as well as the raw materials will be analyzed. If the analysis shows a compliant result, the products can be put on the market,” the agency reports in a press release.
Critical
The decision was made after weeks of in-depth investigation during which the agency carried out on-site inspections of the factory’s internal procedures and infrastructure. Currently, Ferrero can give the necessary food safety guarantees, but the agency wants to check things out once production actually resumes. Hence the conditional approval.
Ferrero was criticized after discovering the contamination: the manufacturer was blamed for a lack of communication. Salmonella was reportedly detected in the plant as early as December 15 in a faulty filter in two raw material tanks.
In order to restart production, in recent weeks around a thousand employees have worked seven days a week dismantling, cleaning and reassembling the production lines one by one.
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The Ferrero chocolate factory in the Belgian town of Arlon, closed after contamination with salmonella, has been authorized by the Federal Food Safety Agency to resume production – but under conditions.
