Barry Callebaut quality director leaves company week after salmonella contamination

A Barry Callebaut top executive, responsible for innovation and quality among other things, is leaving the company. The chocolate group announced this on Thursday.

Pablo Perversi, chief innovation, sustainability & quality officer at Barry Callebaut, is leaving the company on 1 September. ​ It is not yet clear who will succeed him. According to the press release Barry Callebaut distributed, Perversi will take on other challenges.

The news comes a week after the world's largest chocolate manufacturer had to close its factory in Wieze, in East Flanders, due to a salmonella contamination. All chocolate products produced after Saturday 25 June were blocked and production temporarily halted.

Also the factories of several Callebaut customers were shut down as a precaution. These included the factories of Neuhaus in Vlezenbeek, Belgian Chocolate Group in Olen and Herentals and Guylian - known for its seafood - in Sint-Niklaas.

A delivery of the raw material lecithin, a fat-like substance that can bind fat and water, from Hungary was the cause of the salmonella contamination in the Barry Callebaut chocolate factory. This was announced by the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC), which also reported that there are currently no indications that contaminated products have reached the Belgian market.

It is already the second time this year that salmonella has surfaced in a chocolate factory in Belgium. In April, the Ferrero factory in Arlon was in the news after it appeared that contaminated products were circulating in Europe. This resulted in some 30 salmonella contaminations in Belgium and more than 150 cases throughout Europe. The factory where Kinder Surprise eggs, among others, are produced, was temporarily closed as a precaution.

(AHU)

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© AFP PHOTO KENZO TRIBOUILLARD