Cadbury customers in Canada have been issued with a product warning surrounding undeclared pistachio nuts in batches of its Dairy Milk Oreo series, writes Neill Barston.

The move was confirmed by the country’s food inspection agency, CFIA, which also urged shoppers to dispose of any of these recently bought products, as local reports emerged of people having allergic reactions following consuming the popular confectionery series within the past week.

According to the agency, the affected products are now being recalled from the marketplace because they may contain pistachio which is not declared on the label.

Cadbury, owned by parent company Mondelez, and the CFIA have reportedly urged consumers to be alert for the recall – which affects 38gram bars and their related multi-packs. It urged  consumers not to eat the range, as it may cause severe or life-threatening reaction. Recalled products should be thrown out or returned to the location where they were purchased

Consequently, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is conducting a food safety investigation, which may lead to the recall of other products. It is also verifying that industry is removing recalled products from the marketplace.

Major financial impact
As previously covered by Confectionery Production, the financial hit that companies take following such incidents is especially notable, in addition to the impact on sales surrounding parallel products and ranges.

According to some industry estimates, individual product recalls within the food sector, including for confectionery and snack have been budgeted at around $10 million in cost per incident. The impact can be far wider, between $10-$50 million, depending on the extent and scale of the incident, as manufacturers wait for batches to be removed from retail operations within an affected area.

Furthermore, there is also the additional issue of loss of trust in a brand that can often occur in such incidents, as well as the major health implications for individuals with serious allergies that are unexpectedly exposed to products that contain nuts or other trace ingredients.

Recent years have seen a number of product recalls being issues from across the industry, spanning Mars Wrigley recalling gummies in 2022, Ferrero recalling frozen Nutella croissants earlier this year, and last year, Tony’s Chocolonely last year withdrawing products following an incident in which a batch was found to contain small stones.