Global chocolate manufacturer Barry Callebaut announced that the cleaning of the chocolate lines affected by the recent entry of salmonella-positive lecithin in its factory in Wieze, Belgium is progressing well. As a result, the first cleaned chocolate lines are foreseen to restart production as of early August 2022, with a gradual ramp-up to full capacity over the following weeks.

On Monday June 27, Barry Callebaut detected a salmonella positive production lot from a facility in Wieze, Belgium. The company’s food safety programs allowed it to quickly identify lecithin as the source of the contamination, an ingredient widely used in chocolate production. In response, Barry Callebaut halted all chocolate production at the Wieze factory on June 29, 2022, as a precautionary measure, which prevented affected chocolate products from entering the retail food chain. Barry Callebaut duly and proactively informed the Belgian Food Safety Authorities (FAVV) and is in continuous collaboration with them on this incident.

After reaching out to all customers supplied with impacted chocolate products, Barry Callebaut confirmed, based on its internal investigation, that no affected chocolate products by the salmonella-positive production lot in Wieze, Belgium, entered the retail food chain. The company informed the Belgian Food Safety Authorities (FAVV) about the incident, stopped all chocolate production lines as a precautionary measure and put a hold on all products manufactured since the time of testing.