Barry Callebaut supplied potentially contaminated chocolate to 73 companies

The salmonella contamination at Barry Callebaut has major consequences: not only will 30 truckloads of chocolate from the factory be destroyed, but 73 other companies have also received potentially contaminated chocolate.

Trucks full of chocolate

Early last week, a salmonella contamination was discovered in the Barry Callebaut factory in Belgium. The world’s largest chocolate factory went into lockdown and will disinfect all lines. The tons of chocolate that are still in the factory will be destroyed. A spokesman for the chocolate maker confirmed that “some 30 trucks” would be needed to transport the chocolate to the waste treatment centre.

However, much of the chocolate has already found its way to other companies that process the raw material into chocolates and bars. A total of 73 companies are said to be affected. Before the weekend, Neuhaus, The Belgian Chocolate Group, Guylian and Mondelez (Côte d’Or) already halted production as a precaution. They now have to check whether their deliveries are also contaminated with salmonella.

Neuhaus bound to disinfect

This seems to be the case already at Neuhaus: the Belgian chocolate producer has to send 80 tons of chocolate to the waste disposal. The factory will be closed for two to four weeks to disinfect everything. “A large part of the potentially contaminated chocolate had already been used in our factories,” CEO Ignace Van Doorselaere told La Dernière Heure. “We had to isolate and destroy all the production and stock involved, but also close our factory.”

Van Doorselaere believes that the company was warned too late. Fortunately, Neuhaus still has three to four weeks of stock, which Barry Callebaut says is the case for most of its customers. The chocolate supplier says it could not have informed its customers any earlier.