Enormous chocolate factory shuts over salmonella outbreak

Paris (CNN Business)A chocolate factory in Belgium has temporarily shut its doors after discovering salmonella in a production batch.

Swiss chocolate producer Barry Callebaut paused production at its plant in Wieze, Belgium, on Monday, the company said in a statement Thursday.

The Wieze plant is the biggest chocolate factory in the world, according to government tourism website Visit Flanders.

For Barry Callebaut food safety is paramount. Our robust food safety programs in place allowed us to quickly identify lecithin as the source of the contamination, read the statement, adding that Belgian food authorities (FAVV) were informed of the incident.

Lecithin is a fatty substance used to bind together other ingredients in the chocolate.

Employees walk at Barry Callebaut production site in Wieze, near Brussels, on June 30, 2022. Swiss group Barry Callebaut, the world's largest cocoa and chocolate company, said on June 30, 2022, that it had halted chocolate production at its Wieze (Belgium) factory, billed as the world's largest, after salmonella was found in a batch on June 26.