The Swiss company announced this on Thursday. Barry Callebaut discovered a Salmonella positive chocolate production batch at the factory on June 27, 2022. Two days later, it was determined that a batch of lecithin from a supplier was the cause, and Barry Callebaut shut down all chocolate production lines at the factory as a precaution. The find was reported to Belgian health authorities, and customers of the facility were notified.
According to the Communiqué, the cleaning procedure was a very time-consuming process that had to be strictly followed to ensure food safety and employee safety. According to previous information, production was gradually restarted from August.
However, customers experienced bottlenecks as a result. According to the previous statements of a ZKB analyst, about 2 percent of the total production volume of about 2 million tons was lost due to the one-month downtime of the plant.
Thus, approximately 40,000 tons less were produced. Some small customers can get all or at least most of their chocolate needs from this factory. Larger customers—Barry Callebaut is also known to supply to food giants like Nestlé or Mondelez—are more likely to flee.
(SDA)