Sean Murray: Kinder products could pose a nasty surprise this Easter

Food safety authorities in Ireland and Europe are continuing to warn about the dangers of Kinder products due to a recent salmonella outbreak

Some batches of Kinder Surprise have been linked to an outbreak of food poisoning in a number of European countries, including Ireland.

It was an unusual statement to come in so late on a Saturday night. But it was one that caught the eye immediately when it hit the inbox at 9.14pm on April 2.

The press release from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) bore the headline: “Recall of Some Ferrero Kinder Surprise Chocolate Products linked to outbreak of Salmonella”.

The egg-shaped chocolates are quite popular here, and the FSAI was warning that some batches had been linked to an ongoing outbreak of food poisoning in Ireland, the UK and a number of European countries.

“Given that we are approaching Easter, we would urge parents and guardians to check at home if they have any of the products and if they do, to ensure that any are not eaten,” the FSAI’s chief executive Dr Pamela Byrne said at the time.

We have 10 cases of salmonella food poisoning in Ireland linked to these products. The most common symptom of salmonella food poisoning is diarrhoea, which can sometimes be bloody.” 

The recall has been broadened since, and now covers the standard 20g Kinder Surprise, a three-pack of Kinder Surprise, Kinder Mini Eggs, Kinder Egg Hunt Kit, the 100g Kinder Surprise and all pack sizes of Kinder Schokobons.

By Friday, April 8, by parent company Ferrero regardless of their best-before dates. At this time, the number of cases in Ireland had increased to 15, with a number of them involving young children.

While Ferrero does have a presence in Cork, where it produces TicTacs in a factory on the Kinsale road, the Italian confectionary manufacturer does not make the Kinder products linked to this outbreak in Cork.

This outbreak has been linked to its factory in the town of Arlon in the Ardennes, which has been shut down by Belgian authorities.

Buttermilk

This week, European health officials investigating the salmonella outbreak said they suspect it is related to buttermilk used in the Belgian factory.

A "Rapid Outbreak Assessment" released by the European Food Safety Authority and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said they had matched the same salmonella strain currently infecting people to samples taken from the factory last December.

The ECDC said the majority of infections are among children younger than 10 years, and many of them have been hospitalised.

One-third of the now 15 cases reported in Ireland have been hospitalised, the ECDC said. In the UK, 65 cases have been confirmed with 43% of these hospitalised. In France, there have been 25 confirmed cases.

The report said "the processing step involving buttermilk was identified as the possible contamination point", and hygiene measures were implemented.

The report said the factory "distributed the implicated chocolate products across Europe and globally after negative salmonella testing".

On April 8, the food safety authority in Belgium assessed that the factory was not able to guarantee the safety of its products, and as a result "the authorisation for production was withdrawn".

The report said: 

This outbreak is rapidly evolving, and children have so far been most at risk for severe infection among reported cases.

"The recalls and withdrawals launched worldwide will reduce the risk of further infections.

"However, further investigations are needed at the production site to identify the root cause, timing, and possible factors behind the contamination, including the evaluation of the possibility of the wider use of contaminated raw material in other processing plants."

Ferrero has said it will only reopen the Arlon plant "once certified by the authorities".

The firm said it acknowledged "internal inefficiencies, creating delays in retrieving and sharing information in a timely manner" and said these had "impacted the speed and effectiveness of the investigations".

The clear advice at home for parents is that, if they have them at home, these products should not be given to their children or eaten by anyone. As it is Easter weekend, people may be more likely to have some of these products in their home than at other times of the year.

In a warning last week, the HSE said that despite these products being recalled, “we may see a number of further cases of illness associated with this outbreak”.

Dr Paul McKeown, a consultant in public medicine, said there may have been more than the 15 cases reported in Ireland so far and urged parents to be vigilant.

If your child develops more worrying symptoms such as a lot of diarrhoea, diarrhoea with blood in it, a lot of vomiting, a high temperature or a nasty headache, you should seek medical advice from your GP.” 

“For small children, this can be very distressing. Given the fact we’re coming up to Easter, the very clear message is ‘I know you may have seen the recall but check once again, check and see if any of the products you bought are products on that list’. The FSAI has published photos, just go by them and make sure they’re not passed on this Easter,” Dr McKeown said.