Salmonella bacteria found in the world's largest chocolate factory

• Image Credit: Internet

• Jun 30, 2022 | Dhupali Das

Meanwhile, after receiving the information, Belgium's food safety agency, AFSCA, began an inquiry.

Digital Desk: The largest chocolate factory in the world, operated by the Swiss conglomerate Barry Callebaut in the Belgian town of Wieze, has been found to have Salmonella bacteria, the company announced on Thursday.

A company representative informed AFP that the factory's wholesale batch production of liquid chocolate for 73 clients who manufacture confections had been stopped. 

Spokesman Korneel Warlop stated, "All items manufactured since the test have been halted."

"Barry Callebaut is contacting any client who might have gotten contaminated goods. Wieze's manufacturing of chocolate is still on hold till further notice," he added. 

Further, he added that most of the contaminated products are still in the factory.

However, the company has contacted all of its customers and requested that they should not ship any items that they have prepared with chocolate produced at the Wieze plant in Flanders, northwest of Brussels, since June 25.

Meanwhile, after receiving the information, Belgium's food safety agency, AFSCA, began an inquiry.

The Wieze plant does not produce chocolates for direct consumer sale, and there is currently no reason for the company to suspect that any contaminated products produced by clients have gotten onto store shelves.

A case of salmonella-contaminated chocolates was discovered a few weeks earlier in the Ferrero facility that makes Kinder chocolates in Arlon, southern Belgium.

Belgian health officials declared on June 17 that they had given the Italian giant's facility the all-clear to reopen for a three-month test period.

Many companies in the food sector, including industry giants like Hershey, Mondelez, Nestle, or Unilever, purchase cocoa and chocolate goods from the Swiss company Barry Callebaut.

Its annual sales for the fiscal year 2020–2021 totaled 2.2 million tonnes, making it the industry leader worldwide.

The business, which has its headquarters in Zurich, achieved a net profit of 384.5 million Swiss francs ($402 million) for 7.2 billion francs in revenue during the most recent fiscal year. 

The company has more than 60 production facilities worldwide and more than 13,000 employees.