For the first time, the boss in France of the Ferrero company, Nicolas Neykov, has spoken since the start of the health scandal. The contamination would come from “a filter located in a dairy butter tank”, according to him.
Millions of Kinder products, representing more than 3000 tons, have been withdrawn from the market in France in total after numerous cases of salmonellosis in Europe, with a “financial impact” of “several tens of millions of euros“, announced the general manager France of Ferrero in an interview with Parisian published Thursday.
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“This crisis hurts our hearts. This is the largest product recall in 20 years. And it concerns the favorite brand of the French“, declares Nicolas Neykov, who speaks for the first time since the start of the health scandal. “According to our surveys“, the contamination would come from”a filter located in a dairy butter tank” from the Arlon plant in Belgium and would have been provoked “either by contaminated raw materials or by people“, according to him.
The health scandal would have caused the loss of “40% of turnover» on the Easter period for the group. The factory in Arlon, in the Belgian Ardennes, where the Kinder products in question come from, was shut down in early April. All products produced on this site (Kinder Surprise, Kinder Mini Eggs, Kinder Surprise Maxi 100g and Kinder Schoko-Bons) have been recalled.
External control
“We have requested a reopening from June 13 to restart production as soon as possible.“, said the general manager of Ferrero France. During his interview with Le Parisien, Nicolas Neykov announced that from now on 50% of health checks would be “carried out by an approved external laboratory» whereas for the time being everything is based on an internal self-control system.
The leader reiterated the apologies already presented by the group, and acknowledged failures. The group presented a plan on May 4 to the Belgian health authorities and 1,000 employees of the factory are working seven days a week when it reopens. 10,000 parts will be dismantled and cleaned one by one.
In early April, Ferrero had to recall batches of Kinder chocolate products made in Belgium and sold in several European countries due to suspected salmonella contamination. In mid-April, 150 cases of salmonellosis had been detected in nine European countries, including 81 cases in France, mainly in children under ten years old.