Kinder salmonella outbreak: 3,000 tonnes of products worth millions withdrawn

The crisis at a factory in Belgium came during key Easter period for the chocolate company

The Ferrero factory in Arlon, Belgium. EPA

Millions of Kinder products, weighing more than 3,000 tonnes, have been withdrawn from sale after a salmonella outbreak hit the company.

Nicolas Neykov, the head of Ferrero France, said: "This crisis hurts our hearts. This is the largest product recall in 20 years. And it concerns the favourite brand of the French."

The financial impact was millions of euros, hitting 40 per cent of turnover during the Easter period, he told Le Parisien.

The company was forced to shut down its factory in Arlon, Belgium, which produces Kinder Surprise, Kinder Mini Eggs, Kinder Surprise Maxi and Kinder Schoko-Bons.

Mr Neykov said the contamination came "from a filter located in a vat for dairy butter" at the Arlon factory. He said it could have been caused by humans or raw materials.

Chocolate products made at the factory in Arlon, southeastern Belgium, were found to contain salmonella, resulting in 150 cases in nine European countries.

Eighty-one of these were in France, mainly affecting children under 10 years old.

The factory's closure and the health concerns were blows to its owner, Italian confectionery giant Ferrero, coming at the height of the Easter holiday season when its Kinder chocolates are sought-after products.

The company hopes to be able to start up the factory again soon, where 50 per cent of health and safety inspections will be carried out by an approved "external laboratory", instead of the previous system of only internal reviews.

"We have asked for a reopening from June 13 to relaunch production," he said.