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A Belgian chocolate factory has been forced to shut down operations after reporting a salmonella outbreak in a batch of its products.
The factory is owned by Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut. Production was paused on Monday at its Wieze, Belgium plant. The company released a statement on Thursday, saying that:
“For Barry Callebaut food safety is paramount. Our robust food safety programs in place allowed us to quickly identify lecithin as the source of the contamination.”
Lecithin is a substance that is meant to bind ingredients in chocolate together.
The Wieze plant is the biggest chocolate factory in the world. Production at the plant is suspended until further notice, and Barry Callebaut says that it is recalling all products manufactured since the time the testing took place.
Barry Callebaut did confirm that no contaminated chocolate had “entered the retail food chain.”
Barry Callebaut is a manufacturer of chocolate for other chocolate makers. It made nearly $8 billion in sales back in 2020-2021.
The company said: “Barry Callebaut will now take the time to continue with the very diligent root cause analysis — keeping the FAVV informed in the process. When that is completed the lines will be cleaned and disinfected before resuming the production process.”
The FAVV refers to the Belgian food authorities.
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