WHO reported on a multi-country outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium linked to Belgium chocolate products

On April 27, WHO published a report on the monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak linked to Ferraro Belgium chocolate. It reported that on March 27, 2022, the United Kingdom notified WHO of a cluster of cases with monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium sequence type 34 infection. Investigations linked the outbreak to chocolate produced in Belgium, distributed to at least 113 countries. A global alert was released by INFOSAN on April 10, initiating a global product recall. To date, 151 genetically related cases suspected to be linked to the consumption of the implicated chocolate products have been reported from 11 countries. Monophasic S. Typhimurium matching the human outbreak cases was identified in buttermilk tanks at the Ferrero Corporate plant in Arlon, Belgium, in December 2021 and January 2022. After implementing hygiene measures and negative Salmonella testing, the implicated products (all Kinder products manufactured at the implicated facility (Arlon), including Kinder Surprise, Kinder Mini Eggs, Kinder Surprise Maxi 100g, and Kinder Schoko-Bons) were distributed across Europe and globally. As of April 25, 2022, a total of 151 genetically related cases of S. Typhimurium suspected to be linked to the consumption of the implicated chocolate products have been reported from 11 countries, including Belgium (26), France (25), Germany (10), Ireland (15), Luxembourg (1 ), the Netherlands (2), Norway (1), Spain (1), Sweden (4), the United Kingdom (65) and the United States of America (1). Children under 10 years of age (n=134; 89%) were disproportionately affected. @ https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2022-DON369