What did Ferrero hide about salmonella cases?
Ferrero was aware of the presence of salmonella in the plant in Belgium as early as last December 15, but waited until April to collect some products. The role of the United Kingdom and the criticisms of the French press. All the details
The Ferrero case continues. There are 119 confirmed cases of salmonella and another 31 suspected cases according to the latest update of 12 April by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (Ecdc).
The factory in Arlon, Belgium, where the products now under investigation had been prepared for a possible correlation, was closed on April 8 but in Le Monde we read that Ferrero admitted to having detected salmonella bacteria in that factory already halfway through. December, more than three months before the site was closed.
In addition, analyzes are also underway in Italy on a Kinder egg surprised after a 12-year-old child was hospitalized in Ravenna for salmonella poisoning.
THE ACCUSATION
“Has Ferrero done everything to avoid contamination? Did you scrupulously follow the rules? ”Asks Le Monde who, quoting the words of Test-Achats (the main Belgian consumer association) defines the situation as“ particularly worrying ”.
“The responsibility for controlling the production chain lies primarily with the company – says Julie Frère, spokesperson for the association – In this case, something went wrong. There was a culpable negligence on the part of Ferrero ”.
INTERVENTION BY THE AUTHORITIES (BUT NOT BY FERRERO)
In retrospect, it was not the Arlon site that raised the alarm, but the British health authorities who contacted their Belgian counterparts on 31 March.
"They had identified a link between the consumption of Ferrero products from the Arlon factory and cases of salmonella," said Aline Van den Broeck, spokesperson for the Agence fédérale pour la sécurité de la chaîne alimentaire (AFSCA), the Federal Agency for safety of the Belgian food chain.
On 1 April, according to Le Monde , an AFSCA team went to the factory to carry out checks and three days later the withdrawal of some lots was decided.
“Theoretically, it's Ferrero's responsibility to recall the products, but they didn't, so we took the lead,” said Van den Broeck.
DID FERRERO KNOW?
According to the French newspaper, the Italian company "is taking refuge and responds only sparingly to requests for information". Those of Le Monde , they report, remained unanswered.
However, Ferrero admitted that he was aware of the presence of salmonella in the Arlon plant as early as last December 15, but only the AFSCA intervention in the first days of April – about four months later – led to the withdrawal of some products and when the site is closed.
The AFSCA defined the information provided by Ferrero as "incomplete" .
WHAT FERRERO SAYS
Returning to December 15, Laurence Evrard, spokesperson for Ferrero Benelux, said : “We have detected the presence of salmonella in a filter at the outlet of two tanks of raw materials. We raised the alarm internally and immediately stopped our production line ”.
"We removed the filter and stopped all of our production from the previous five days, even though we hadn't detected salmonella during our daily checks until December 15," he added.
WHY DID FERRERO NOT ATTEND BEFORE?
According to Le Soir , Ferrero did not consider it necessary to inform AFSCA as it was not legally obliged to do so as none of the lots had left the plant.
However, for Test-Achats it is unacceptable that the company did not notify the Agency and accused Ferrero of having tried to "silence as much as possible" the story: "For us, this is a sign that the self-control system it did not work sufficiently in this case, ”said Jean-Philippe Ducart , spokesman for the association.
Ferrero initially argued that no trace of salmonella was detected in its products and that the recall was simply arranged "as a precaution". But in the statement of April 12 he admitted: “Ferrero acknowledges that there have been internal inefficiencies that have created delays in the recalls and in the sharing of information. This has impacted on the speed and effectiveness of the investigations ".
For the French association Foodwatch , however, “Belgium was very clear: Ferrero was unable to provide the necessary guarantees of food safety and that is why all the Kinder products of this factory were recalled. Ferrero's self-control has not detected anything for months and the brand was not aware of it? We find it hard to believe… ".
THE REPERCUSSIONS
Le Figaro reports the disappointment of many parents who now no longer trust the brand and remembers that Easter sales represent 10% of annual turnover for Ferrero and are second only to the Christmas period.
Some testimonies complain about both the lack of communication on the part of Ferrero and, in some cases, the difficulty of being able to obtain a refund. The number to contact, in fact, is overwhelmed by calls. There is talk of 20,000 calls per hour since the announcement was made.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/cosa-ha-nascosto-ferrero-sui-casi-di-salmonella/ on Tue, 19 Apr 2022 08:53:15 +0000.