Raids on Ferrero in Belgium and Luxembourg for Salmonella

As part of their investigation into an outbreak of salmonella in children’s chocolate products, Belgian and Luxembourg investigative authorities inspected several locations of confectionery group Ferrero on Wednesday. According to the prosecutor of the Belgian province of Luxembourg, the documents and the computerEquipment confiscation. However, no one was arrested.

The Ferrero factory in Arlon, Belgium, where children’s products contaminated with salmonella were made, was damaged in one of the raids. The branch has been closed since April 8 by a decision of the health authorities. There were further raids on positions in Brussels and in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, where Ferrero is also based.

The investigations aim to clarify who is responsible for the salmonella contamination and whether there was an omission to report to the health authorities. According to a spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office, Ann-Sophie Gilmot, investigations are underway on suspicion of “violations of food safety and hygiene”, “negligence in bodily harm” and “failure to provide assistance”.

It is suspected that the Italian confectionery group did not inform the authorities until late and delayed the recall of products. Although salmonella was detected in a sour milk tank in Arlon as early as December 2021, The group recalled only thousands of tons of baby products at the beginning of April.

By mid-April they brought European authorities 150 cases of salmonellosis in nine countries associated with chocolate products. The majority of salmonella infections occur in children under the age of 10.

Ferrero also recalled its products in Switzerland in mid-Aprilwhich was manufactured in the Belgian factory.