Nicolas Neykov, the head of Ferrero France, said the contamination came “from a filter located in a vat for dairy butter”, at a factory in Arlon in Belgium.

He said the contamination 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 dozens of cases in several European countries.

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 supermarket buys.

“This crisis is heartbreaking. It’s the biggest removal of products in the last 20 years,” Mr Neykov said.

But the company hoped to be able to start up the factory again, with 50% of health and safety inspections to be carried out by an approved “external laboratory” in the future, instead of the previous system of only internal reviews.

“We have asked for a reopening from June 13 to relaunch production as soon as possible,” he added.

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Ferrero Duplo is set to disrupt the category with a more premium option when compared to current products available, thanks to Ferrero’s heritage and expertise in creating high-quality chocolate. This is evidenced by the chocolate bar being a best seller in Germany since its launch in 1964[1], with early consumer testing in the UK and Ireland showing a wide appeal across age groups, particularly amongst adults aged 24-45[2], due to its distinctive nutty taste and flavour, and its creamy texture.

Levi Boorer, Customer Development Director at Ferrero, comments: “The varied product formats and pack sizes give Duplo appeal across a number of different shopper missions, both enabling retailers to offer something new as on-the-go purchases return, as well as larger multipacks that allow people to manage their treating ahead of time and around the working week.”

Duplo is available now in single and multipacks – 1, 2, 5 and 10-packs.

[1] https://www.duplo.de/sortiment/classic/

[2] CPT Research

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Despite the disruption created by the Covid-19 pandemic, the company has already met or exceeded over 50% of its 2022 targets with two more years to go. Ferrero will continue beyond a number of these targets in critical areas, such as polygon mapping farms to ensure a high level of traceability, covering more hectares with deforestation risk assessment, developing agroforestry and support in establishing Village Savings and Loans Associations.

Cocoa & Forests Initiative

“Through the Cocoa & Forests Initiative, we are working to ensure that forests are protected and preserved. We have also implemented extensive activities to support farmers and communities economically and socially,” said Marco Gonçalves, Chief Procurement & Hazelnut Company Officer at Ferrero. “A critical component to enable us to do this is having full visibility of our supply chain. This is why we are proud of our strong progress on tracing our cocoa and mapping the farms we source from, ensuring that our cocoa does not come from protected areas.”

Ferrero recently announced that its cocoa is 100% sustainably sourced via independently managed standards such as Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade and others. In addition, the company is pleased that −according to the 2019/20 CFI definition− it has achieved 91% traceability from farm to first purchase point for its directly sourced cocoa. Ferrero has also made public the farmer groups from which it sources cocoa, as part of its commitment to transparency.

Ferrero’s second progress report marks the halfway point for its four-year CFI action plan, which was launched in 2019. Ferrero is proud to have built on the progress it has made over previous years and has surpassed many of its goals, particularly on the following CFI indicators:

• Mapped over 123,000 farms in both Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, far exceeding the 2022 target of 100,872
• Distributed 900,000 improved cocoa plant seedlings
• Trained over 100,000 farmers in Good Agricultural Practices, more than 30,000 ahead of the 2022 target
• Carried out deforestation risk assessments covering a total of 233,332 hectares, and already exceeded the 2022 target by 93,686 hectares
• 48,306 hectares of cocoa agroforestry now in development, ahead of the 2022 target
• 525 active Village Savings and Loans Associations. Group membership has already reached over 13,000, more than three times the 2022 target

Ferrero is also significantly accelerating work on indicators where there is more to do to achieve the 2022 targets, particularly the distribution of trees for on-farm planting and for off-farm reforestation activities.

Marco Gonçalves, concluded: “Extensive progress is being made, and it’s positive that there is a clear sense of urgency amongst CFI signatory companies to increase collective action and to see greater engagement and alignment between industry and origin governments. However, it’s essential to ensure that all stakeholders deliver on commitments made in order to continue the positive trend that has seen declines in deforestation in cocoa growing areas. This will be critical for the success of CFI over the coming years.”The Ferrero CFI action plan is embedded in Ferrero’s cocoa sustainability strategy, the Ferrero Farming Values Cocoa Program, which can be found here: https://www.ferrerosustainability.com/int/en/our-approach

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