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Ferrero plant in Arlon (in April): »All requirements fulfilled«
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Eric Lalmand / dpa
According to the authorities, confectionery manufacturer Ferrero has overcome a salmonella outbreak at its Belgian site.
On Friday, Ferrero received final approval from regulator Afsca to keep the Arlon factory open, Belga news agency reported.
After the international recall of "children's" chocolate products manufactured there, the factory was initially reopened only temporarily and under certain conditions.
"Ferrero has complied with all the requirements that we had imposed," an Afsca spokeswoman told the news agency.
Among other things, the ingredients and the finished and semi-finished products were strictly controlled.
"Of course we are happy that we have received the final approval for our factory in Arlon again," said a Ferrero spokesman for the Belgian news agency.
Thanks to the cooperation with the authority, a lot has been learned and the safety precautions have been improved.
Nevertheless, the Afsca will carry out unannounced checks in the coming months, Belga wrote.
Authorities were not initially informed
The Ferrero factory was forced to close in early April after hundreds of cases of salmonella in Europe were linked to confectionery produced there.
It later turned out that salmonella had already been found there in December, but that Ferrero had not initially informed the authorities.
Consumer advocates were outraged by these findings.
As the organization foodwatch wrote: »The confectionery industry is well aware that salmonella is a huge problem in the manufacture of chocolate.
If such a mistake happens, the population must be warned immediately.«
In June, the factory was allowed to reopen for three months.
According to earlier company information, the plant accounts for around seven percent of all Kinder brand products manufactured worldwide each year.
sol/dpa
