Ferrero in the eye of the storm after numerous cases of salmonella in Europe. Two days before the international day of Food safety (proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly for the first time on 7 June 2019), the signals arriving in Europe are not at all reassuring, as demonstrated by the two latest food scandals: that of Buitoni pizzas – owned for some time by the Swiss Nestlè – and by the Kinder Ferrero eggs. The Paris Public Prosecutor's Office has opened a preliminary investigation against the confectionery giant for alleged contamination by salmonella involving a series of Kinder products, made in the Belgian factory in Arlon and sold in various European countries. France Presse reports it.
The investigation was opened following a complaint presented in May by the consumers' association Foodwatch France on the basis of complaints from the parents of two girls. There would be over 300 people suffering from salmonellosis following the consumption of the confectionery products of the Italian multinational Kinder range, namely: Kinder Surprise, Kinder Surprise Maxi, Kinder Mini Eggs, Schoko-bons.
Ferrero and the Kinder eggs with Salmonella: what happened?
At the beginning of April, just in view of Easter, the Italian sweets giant recalled all the products manufactured in the Arlon plant, after dozens of cases of Salmonella. The situation was made worse by the declarations of the multinational itself, which already in December of last year had detected "the presence of salmonella in a filter at the outlet of two tanks of raw materials". However, the producer did not consider it necessary to inform the Federal Food Safety Chain Agency (AFCA), as it was not legally obliged to do so, given that none of the batches had left the factory. However, the Belgian consumers' association considers it "unacceptable" that the company has not informed the Agency and has accused Ferrero of having tried to "silent as much as possible" the story by not reporting the problem to AFCA, nor making it public.
Trouble ahead also for Buitoni pizzas
Foodwatch's second complaint concerns the Nestlé group and its range of frozen pizzas Fraîch'Upcontaminated by bacteria Escherichia coli for which the Caudry plant, south of Lille, was closed in April by the judicial authority after an inspection. If in the case of Ferrero there were no deaths, two children would have died after consuming the frozen pizzas. FoodWatch also speaks of "a 12-year-old girl in a vegetative state, who no longer reacts to stimuli from relatives", as well as "a newborn who died eight hours after her birth, probably due to intrauterine contamination".
It is certainly a bad blow for the two Italian brands, which pay for the passage in foreign hands.
