A Bacteria, Salmonella has been found at the World’s Largest Belgian Chocolate Factory
World’s Largest Chocolate Factory at Wieze
Run by Barry Callebaut, the Swiss Chocolate Giant, the world’s largest chocolate factory was recent to get affected by Salmonella Bacteria. The factory is located in the town of Wieze near Brussels in Belgium. It is responsible for the production of liquid chocolate for nearly 73 clients that engage in manufacturing confectioneries such as Nestle, Hershey, and Unilever.
It notes itself as the world’s best with sales amounting to 2.2 million Tons from 2020 to 2021. A profit of 384.5 million Swiss Francs equivalent to $402 Million had been generated by the factory’s head office. With an employment scale of over 13,000 the company has over 60 production sites worldwide.
Salmonella Bacteria Infection Across the Belgian Chocolate Factory
Agence France-Presse who represented the company as a spokesperson claimed that production had been stopped. Korneel Warlop said that manufacturing at the factory remains suspended. All products that had been produced since the Salmonella test results were blocked. The products that were contaminated are still on-site and are expected to be safely disposed of by experts soon.
The representatives are currently reaching out to clients who may have been recipients of the contaminated goods. They have requested their customers to not ship any confectionaries made with the liquid chocolate produced at the factory since 25th June.
Additional Information Regarding the Safety of Consumers
The AFSCA or Belgium’s Official Food Safety Agency has been notified of the contamination and an investigation has been opened from the same. This comes after recent news of contamination at various chocolate factories across the country including a Ferrero Manufacturing Centre that produces Kinder Joy.
However, since the Wieze Belgian Chocolate Plant doesn’t sell liquid chocolate to consumers directly, they aren’t expected to have been directly exposed to the Salmonella bacteria.
Read More: Food can be now produced with artificial sunlight
