Earlier this week, some Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs were recalled by the Food and Drug Administration (FSA) due to the possible presence of salmonella. The UK Health and Safety Administration announced on Wednesday that 63 people in the UK, mostly young children, were known to be infected with salmonella in the delicacy-related outbreak. On Friday, Belgian health authorities called for the plant to be suspended after the company recalled several batches of Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs and other shelving products in Spain, Britain, Ireland and the United States. Ferrero said other Kinder products made at its Arlon facility in Belgium had also been recalled, but did not explicitly link the recall to salmonella cases. According to the Belgian food safety service AFSCA-FAVV, a link between more than 100 cases of salmonella over several weeks and Ferrero production in southern Belgium had been confirmed. It comes after the European Health Service announced on Wednesday that it was investigating dozens of reported cases of salmonella linked to chocolate consumption in at least nine countries, mostly among children under the age of 10. Ferrero said the Arlon plant accounts for about 7% of the total global Kinder product volume. The decision to suspend production at the plant was taken after the Belgian service concluded that information from Ferrero was incomplete. The agency said the suspension would only be lifted when the factory demonstrated compliance with all food safety rules and also urged consumers not to eat any of the products being recalled in the meantime, including Kinder Surprise, Kinder Surprise Maxi, Kinder Mini Eggs and Kinder Schokobons. Ferrero said there were internal shortcomings that created delays in the timely retrieval and sharing of information. Image: Kinder Surprise eggs were recalled this week for fear of salmonella He previously described the recalls as precautionary and said that no Kinder products on the market were positive for salmonella. The first recall on Monday included batches of 20 gram individual Kinder Surprise eggs and those available in packs of three with the best date before 11 July 2022 to 7 October 2022. This was later extended to include those products with the best before the date all dates up to 7 October 2022. The Kinder Surprise (100g), Kinder Mini Eggs (75g) and Kinder Schokobons (200g) packages were also recalled, with a better date before 20 April 2022 to 21 August 2022. Like the Kinder Egg Hunt Kit (150g) with the best previous dates from April 21, 2022 to August 21, 2022. The FSA said all the affected eggs were made in the same factory in Belgium. The recall comes weeks before Easter, when Ferrero was probably hoping for a boost in sales.
