There is one U.S. illness in the Kinder chocolate Salmonella outbreak, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), joining 150 genetically related cases in Europe. The ill persons live in 11 countries. The pathogen is Salmonella Typhimurium. The chocolate was produced by Ferrero.
There is no more information on the ill person who lives in the United States. We do not know that person’s age, illness onset date, or whether or not he or she has been hospitalized. The outbreak was recognized on March 27, 2022. In the United States, a recall of Kinder chocolates was issued on April 8, 2022.
Epidemiological and molecular evidence has linked the outbreak to the chocolate products from Belgium. Those products were distributed to at least 113 countries and territories across all WHO regions.
The outbreak strain of Salmonella 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. The company implemented hygiene measures and testing was negative, so the implicated products were distributed globally.
As of April 25, 2022, the case count by country is: Belgium (26 cases), France (25 cases), Germany (10 cases), Ireland (15 cases), Luxembourg (1 case), the Netherlands (2 cases), Norway (1 case), Spain (1 case), Sweden (4 cases), the United Kingdom (65 cases) and the United States of America (1 case). Illness onset dates range from December 21, 2021 to March 28, 2022. Children under the age of 10 were disproportionally affected. Nine people were hospitalized. WHO believes that this outbreak is likely to grow.
Symptoms of Salmonella food poisoning include a fever, chills, headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal and stomach pain and cramps, and diarrhea that may be bloody. Symptoms usually begin six hours to six days after infection, and the illness can last as long as a week.
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