Salmonella detected at the Barry Callebaut factory, the largest chocolate producer in Belgium

• Health Europe records 324 cases of salmonellosis related to Kinder chocolates and eight of unknown origin

The Swiss company

, a world giant in the segment of cocoa and chocolate preparations, announced this Thursday that experts detected the

in the largest of its factories in

, located in Wieze, where production was stopped.

"Our experts

as the source of the contamination," the firm said after

"in a batch manufactured in Wieze," northeast of Brussels.

The company has announced that "all

manufactured in Wieze after June 25 have been blocked" and that the production lines "will be

before restarting" manufacturing.

A spokesman for the firm has indicated that "most of the

are still in the Wieze factory" and a small amount "with our customers".

The firm was already in contact with

to guarantee "that there is no contamination of consumers."

The

group supplies cocoa and chocolate-based preparations to numerous companies in the food sector, and in particular to major brands

, such as Hershey, Mondelez or Nestlé.

According to its 2021/2022 balance, its annual sales reached

.

The giant's headquarters are in Zurich, Switzerland, although it has some

around the world, and employs some 13,000 people.

In April, the Belgian

Agency had already determined the closure of a factory of another giant brand in the chocolate sector,

(of the Italian group Ferrero), due to an outbreak of salmonella.

The

only authorized in June the reopening - for a trial period - of a Ferrero factory in the town of Arlon (southern Belgium), where famous

contaminated with salmonella were produced.

This permit to

lasts for three months, during which each ingredient will be analyzed before the distribution and

.

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