The Ferrero factory in Arlon, which has been closed since 8 April following the discovery of salmonella in Kinder products, will be able to restart production after receiving conditional authorisation by Belgian authorities for a period of three months.
During this period, each batch leaving the chocolate maker’s production lines will be analysed before being put on the market. “The analyses, which are the responsibility of Ferrero, will not be carried out on each chocolate egg, but on the batches. With this condition, we want to ensure that the guarantees provided by Ferrero work in practice when the factory is back in operation,” explained an Afsca spokeswoman.
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Afsca considers that, in the current state of affairs, “Ferrero offers the necessary guarantees of compliance with food safety rules and requirements.” After this three-month period, and if the results of the analyses are favourable, Ferrero will obtain permanent authorisation.
Belgium’s federal agriculture minister David Clarinval praised “the good work done by the Afsca in this complicated dossier. The conditional authorisation of the Ferrero factory in Arlon is the first step towards a final authorisation. I will continue to follow closely the developments in this dossier.”
This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.