Barry Callebaut: Salmonella found at the world's largest chocolate factory in Belgium

The Swiss group Barry Callebaut, a global giant in cocoa and chocolate products, announced that it had halted production at its factory. Vise in Belgium, the largest in the world, after the discovery salmonella in a batch of products.

The group's announcement

«Our quality control experts identified lecithin as the source of the contamination,» the group said in a statement.

A spokesperson clarified that «most of the contaminated products are still at the factory." Vise» and that the group is in contact with 73 customers (industries and chocolate makers) to ensure that there will be no contamination at the consumer level.

The group Barry Callebaut informed the health authorities of Belgium, the Federal Food Chain Safety Agency and «closed all of Vise's chocolate production lines as a precautionary measure».

«All chocolate products manufactured at Vise after June 25 have been blocked,» the statement also clarifies. «All chocolate production lines will be cleaned and disinfected before production restarts.» The factory is located thirty kilometers northwest of Brussels.

The Federal Food Chain Safety Agency visited the unit and announced that it had begun research to gather all the information needed to trace the infection.

«Food security is of paramount importance for Barry Callebaut and this contamination is absolutely exceptional. We have a map and very specific safety procedures in place,» the group assures us.

The announcement comes a few weeks after the case of chocolate products contaminated with salmonella at the factory Ferrero in Arlon, in southern Belgium, which makes the chocolates Kinder. Belgian health authorities announced on June 17 that they had given the green light for the factory to reopen for a three-month trial period.

The Swiss group Barry Callebaut supplies cocoa and chocolate products to a large number of companies, from industry giants such as Hershey, Mondelez, Nestle, or Unilever to the confectioners.

A world leader in the sector, annual sales reached 2.2 million tons in the 2020/2021 period. In the previous financial year, the Zurich-based group's profits amounted to 384.5 million Swiss francs, compared to a turnover of 7.2 billion Swiss francs.

The group employs 13,000 people and has more than 60 production units worldwide.