Belgium suspends Kinder chocolate production at Ferrero plant amid food recalls across Europe

Belgian authorities have halted Kinder chocolate production at a plant in the country's south, saying the parent company Ferrero supplied it with “incomplete information” regarding a recent outbreak of salmonella poisoning in Europe.

Belgium's food safety agency withdrew its authorisation for Ferrero’s plant in Arlon on Friday and ordered a recall of all products from the site.

"With immediate effect, the entire production of Kinder Surprise, Kinder Mini Eggs, Kinder Surprise Maxi 100g and Kinder Schokobons made in Arlon is being recalled," Ferrero said in a statement.

The Italian company had already recalled some of its Kinder chocolate products in the run-up to Easter after they were linked to salmonella infections in a number of European countries.

It all started with a case of salmonella identified in the UK in January. Now, the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) say that as of April 8, at least 142 cases have been reported, mainly in children, across at least nine countries.

"The outbreak is characterised by an unusually high proportion of children being hospitalised, some with severe clinical symptoms such as bloody diarrhoea," the ECDC said.

Kinder is just one company affected by recalls in recent days due to outbreaks of food poisoning across Europe. Consumer protection groups say the health scares highlight a weak system of safety checks across the food industry that needs to be overhauled.

Buitoni, owned by Nestlé, has recalled its entire range of Fraîch'Up frozen pizzas, and Lactalis has recalled tens of thousands of its cheeses, after the products were suspected of carrying respectively E. coli and listeria bacteria.

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