Barry Callebaut’s full production resumes after Salmonella detection in Wieze facilities

The Barry Callebaut Group has moved to offer reassurance that it is once again operating at full capacity in Belgium, following the final stages of its cleaning at the company’s main Wieze site that were subject to a salmonella incident, writes Neill Barston.

As the business explained, it takes the issue of food safety as a clear priority in its global manufacturing, and stressed that it worked swiftly to handle its production issue which happened this summer.

It related to detection of a salmonella-positive chocolate production lot at its Wieze factory in Belgium on June 27, 2022. On June 29, 2022, a lecithin batch from a supplier was identified as the root cause and Barry Callebaut halted all chocolate production lines at the factory as a precautionary measure, which prevented affected chocolate products from entering the retail market. The business proactively informed the Belgian Food Safety Authorities (FAVV) and remained in continuous collaboration with them on this incident.

Peter Boone, CEO of Barry Callebaut Group, noted it had proved a testing challenge to respond to, but was glad that it has now been resolved. He said: “I would like to express my deepest gratitude to our customers for their understanding during this difficult period, and to all our employees who worked tirelessly for weeks to get the Wieze factory up and running again.”