On April 8, 2022, two European health monitoring agencies announced the recent registration of 150 cases of salmonella in 9 European countries. In an incident considered the first of its kind. In the statement, the two agencies explained that they suggested that the reason was “ a Belgian factory belonging to the Kinder company ”, and this factory was closed a few days after the incident in the city of Arlon, southeast of the capital, Brussels.
The European Food Safety Agency and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said in a joint statement: “On 8 April 2022, 150 confirmed and probable cases of salmonella were recorded. This is due to the use of products prepared from chocolate made by a company within a Belgian production plant, which has been identified as the origin of the salmonella epidemic.”
In its statement, the agency ignored the mention of the Italian brand Ferrero, even though Kinder is affiliated with it.
It was also noted that the children who were infected were 10 years old or younger. In 9 countries, they are:
- Ireland.
- Germany.
- Belgium.
- Spain.
- France.
- Luxembourg.
- Norway.
- Holland.
- Sweden.
No deaths have been reported so far from eating Kinder chocolate contaminated with salmonella.
Symptoms of salmonella
The European Food Safety Agency explained that the symptoms that appeared in children were:
Severe intestinal symptoms cause:
- diarrhea.
- Intestinal spasms.
- High body temperature "hot".
- vomiting;
The response of the producing company and the legal actions taken
Several European experts also called for additional investigations to be carried out "to determine the exact source and exact moment of infection."
The license was also withdrawn from the Belgian factory due to a lack of transparency during the case, and the Belgian judiciary has launched an investigation to determine possible responsibilities within the Arlon factory.
As a result of these events, Verio has acknowledged that despite the strengthening of health control and hygiene measures, there are many internal gaps in the organization that need immediate and radical remediation.
Withdrawal of products and statement of the Egyptian National Food Safety Authority
After the link was revealed between Kinder chocolate and salmonella infection in children. The British authorities began withdrawing many quantities from the European and Arab markets, and even the United States of America. It also stopped the export of those products.
Statement of the Egyptian National Food Safety Authority
On April 14, 2022, the Egyptian National Food Safety Authority issued its statement regarding Kinder products. She explained that she had received a notification from the international network of food safety authorities of an outbreak of salmonella infection in several European countries as a result of consuming a type of “Kinder” chocolate product. The notification included a list of the numbers of potentially contaminated batches and the countries in which these products were distributed, and the Arab Republic of Egypt was not among them.
It also mentioned in its statement that it had reviewed the entry of the batches that had been warned, and had counted all the messages of chocolate products that were imported from the company.
It has been confirmed that the messages were received. It did not contain any of the batches that were counted by the International Network of Food Safety Regulatory Authorities.
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