WORLD’S LARGEST CHOCOLATE FACTORY SHUTS DOWN BECAUSE OF SALMONELLA

A chocolate factory in Belgium has had to be shut down temporarily due to salmonella being discovered in its production batch.

Barry Callebaut is a Swiss producer of liquid chocolate. It sells it in wholesale batches for some of the biggest names in the chocolate world including Nestle, Hershey, Unilever and Mondelez.

The salmonella was discovered in lecithin thanks to the company’s robust food safety program in place. Lecithin is a fatty substance that’s used to bind together the ingredients in chocolate.

The Wieze plant in Belgium is the biggest chocolate factory in the world.

The Guardian reports that the scare comes a few weeks after a case where chocolates were contaminated with salmonella in the Ferrero factory that makes Kinder chocolates in Arlon in southern Belgium. Belgian authorities said on 17 June that they had given the green light to restart the Ferrero factory for a three-month test period.

Because Barry Callebaut doesn’t make chocolate or candy itself, the company says it’s confident that no contaminated items made by their clients have reached the shelves.

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