A lot of coconut flavored chocolates has been suspended from sale by retail chain Lidl after a laboratory in Germany discovered the products contained traces of salmonella. The samples came from at a Cluj-Napoca store, although Lidl hadn’t received any complaints from buyers at that point.
Several posters letting the clients know of the danger have since been put up. The clients are instructed to return the products “even without proof of payment” and they will receive their money back.
“Lidl has decided to call back the product preemptively. So far we have received no complaints. No other product sold by Lidl will be affected by this callback”, according to Lidl’s press release.
An alert regarding a possible salmonella contamination in the case of chocolate delivered from Poland was issued by the Naional Animal and Food Safety Authority on April 25, according to Monica Neagu, Audit Director for ANSVSA.
“The retail chain informed us and we issued the alert. There have been several cases of salmonella infections from chocolate reported to the European Commission in previous months. It may be because of an ingredient or the cooking process, because the product reached Romania without any problems. We’ve informed Polish authorities in order for the producer to face the consequences”, Neagu elaborated.