Every morning, Marie Dupin slips into the skin of a personality, an event, a place or a fact at the heart of the news.
A year ago, the Ferrero company went through the biggest health scandal in its history. Kinder chocolates contaminated with salmonella have sickened nearly 500 children throughout Europe, a hundred in France, mostly children under 10 years old. More than twenty of them had to be hospitalized.
>> Withdrawals of Kinder chocolates: we summarize the salmonellosis case in which Ferrero is suspected of having reacted too late
Consumers then shunned the famous chocolates: up to 40% less turnover for Easter that year. But the company has remained far from the boycott: Ferrero even announces a turnover of 14 billion euros, against 12 and a half billion last year, thanks to sales driven by the good performance of Nutella, Ferrero Rocher and Kinder Bueno.
After the supermarket shelves, Ferrero wants to conquer French bakeries. The Managing Director France of Ferrero also announced, on Sunday March 5, in the JDD having signed a big contract with the largest network of bakeries in France: Marie Blachère, for milk breads and millefeuilles…with Nutella.
Ferrero stays away from the courts
Despite the health scandal, Ferrero has not been indicted, unlike the Buitoni pizza case (also contaminated with salmonella), in which a judicial investigation is open.
Many questions remain unanswered: how did salmonella, this bacterium that can have serious consequences for young children, end up in batches of Kinder Surprise, Mini Eggs, or SchokoBons? How did contaminated products end up in April when the bacteria had been detected in December in a Belgian factory? Why did the company wait more than ten days to recall its products after being alerted by the British authorities? Ferrero now claims to have invested millions to strengthen its food safety, but all these questions remain unanswered.
>> Salmonella: the excuses of the boss of Ferrero France are “a communication operation, a casualness”, denounces a lawyer for victims
The company is currently waging other battles, still in Belgium, but rather on the side of the European Commission, where Ferrero is doing everything possible to prevent the establishment of a European Nutri-Score, this logo which helps to choose the best foods for their health. The Nutri-Score has already been adopted in France by hundreds of brands, but not by Ferrero, which considers it discriminatory. In Europe, the Commission was supposed to take a decision before the end of the year, but the subject is no longer even on the agenda, as if nipped in the bud…