Production at the Vise plant, the largest in the world, has stopped
Swiss group Barry Callebaut, world-renowned cocoa and chocolate maker, announced today that it has stopped production at the factory of Vise in Belgiumthe largest in the world, after the detection of salmonella in a batch of products.
“Our quality control experts have identified lecithin as a source of contamination,” the group said in a statement.
A spokesman said “most of the contaminated products are still in the Vise factory” and that the group was contacting 73 customers (industries and chocolate makers) to ensure that there would be no contamination at the consumer level.
The group Barry Callebaut informed the Belgian health authorities, the Federal Food Safety Authority and “closed all Vise chocolate production lines for precautionary reasons”.
“All chocolate products made in Vise after June 25 have been blocked,” the statement said, adding that “all chocolate production lines will be cleaned and disinfected before production resumes.” The factory is located thirty kilometers northwest of Brussels.
The Federal Food Chain Security Service visited the unit and announced that it had launched an investigation to gather all the information to track the infection.
“Food safety is paramount for Barry Callebaut and this contamination is absolutely exceptional. We have a map and very specific security procedures “the group assures.
The announcement comes just weeks after a salmonella-contaminated chocolate case was reported at Ferrero’s factory in Arlon, southern Belgium, which makes Kinder chocolates. The Belgian health authorities announced on 17 June that they had given the green light to reopen the plant for a three-month trial period.
The Swiss Barry Callebaut group supplies cocoa and chocolate products to a large number of companies, from industry giants such as Hershey, Mondelez, Nestlé or Unilever to confectioners.
First in the world in the sector, annual sales reached 2.2 million tons in the period 2020/2021. In the previous financial year, the profits of the group, based in Zurich, amounted to 384.5 million Swiss francs, compared to a turnover of 7.2 billion Swiss francs.
The group is busy 13,000 people and has more than 60 production units in the world.
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