European health officials investigating the salmonella outbreak linked to Kinder chocolate products have said they suspect it is related to buttermilk used in a 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 a factory in Belgium last December.
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".
Authorities have previously named the company involved as the Italian chocolate firm Ferrero. 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the factory was not able to guarantee the safety of its products, and as a result "the authorisation for production was withdrawn".
