Ferrero chocolate Salmonella outbreak: 450 sick

Based on the latest figures,  more than 450 people became sick from Kinder chocolate.

Children under the age of 10 are the ones have been most affected. Some even had severe symptoms like bloody diarrhea.

Since concerns were previously raised by authorities a recall was issued in April, but, potentially contaminated chocolate could still be on sale. United Kingdom records the latest monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium case, with a sampling date of June 16.

Affected cases have been identified in the UK, with a total of 128. UK is so far the country with most cases followed by France with 121. In Belgium 66 people have been recorded sick, in Switzerland it is 49 people, 34 in Germany, 18 in Ireland and 14 in Austria. Till this day there are still four cases in Canada and one in the United States. Other states Sweden, Spain, Norway, Italy, Denmark and Czech Republic all have single-figure case numbers.

Affected cases have been identified through advanced molecular typing techniques, which is a method that is not performed in all countries, and some may be undetected, said ECDC.

On Jan. 7 the first patient was reported in the UK , with a sampling date of Dec. 21, 2021.

The Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC) gave approval for the plant in Belgium to restart only under certain conditions. This came after Ferrero asked to be allowed to produce again in June. The approval lasts for three months. Raw materials will be analyzed and only released if results are compliant. So far, more than 1,800 quality tests were completed and 10,000 parts dismantled and cleaned. Multiple pieces of equipment were replaced and 300 meters of new pipeline were installed.

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