Salmonella Closes World’s Largest Chocolate Plant

A Barry Callebaut chocolate ingredient plant in Belgium, billed as “the world’s largest chocolate factory,” has been temporarily shuttered due to salmonella contamination.

The plant in Wieze, northwest of Brussels, was shut down after salmonella bacteria were detected in product samples on June 27. The Wieze plant makes chocolate liquor and other ingredients for confectionary production, servicing 73 trade clients.

Barry Callebaut says that most of the products discovered to have been contaminated were still on site, but that it has advised its customers not to use any ingredients from the plant that were distributed after June 25. Production at the plant is suspended until further notice, a spokesperson told Agence France-Presse.

The incident came a few weeks after salmonella contamination shut down another Belgian chocolate plant, belonging to Ferrero. That plant, which makes Kinder chocolates, was shuttered in April and was recently allowed to reopen for what authorities described as a three-month test period.