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Confectionery maker Ferrero has now extended its product recall to include some Christmas items because of a possible link to salmonella cases.
These include special surprise eggs and advent calendars, each with a best-before date of April 20, 2022, as can be seen from an overview published on Thursday on the Lebensmittelarning.de portal.
Only Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein are affected by the extension of the recall, according to the portal operated by the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety and the federal states.
According to Ferrero, selected batches of "children's" products made in Belgium are affected by the recall.
It is about "a possible connection with a number of reported salmonella cases".
Although none of the »children« products tested positive for salmonella, Ferrero takes the matter very seriously, »because consumer protection is our top priority«.
Ferrero had previously recalled a number of "kids" products, including several Easter items.
In addition to Germany, many other countries are affected by the recall, even Australia.
There the sweets, including Kinder Surprise eggs, were sold in large supermarket chains such as Coles and Woolworths.
This was announced by the authority responsible for food safety (FSANZ) on Thursday.
Further actions in Sweden and Israel
In Israel, Ferrero is also recalling several children's products as a strict precaution.
However, so far there have been no reports of salmonella contamination, the local Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday.
Ferrero did something similar in Sweden.
In the Scandinavian country, too, several chocolate products have now been recalled as a precaution, as the company wrote on the Swedish children's website.
A possible link to the reported cases is being investigated, even if no children's products that have come onto the market have tested positive for salmonella.
In Europe, the EU food safety authority EFSA and the EU health authority ECDC started investigations.
The two authorities had spoken of 105 confirmed salmonella cases and 29 suspected cases on Wednesday, most of them in children under the age of ten.
Certain chocolate products have been identified as a likely route of infection.
jok/dpa
