traumatized, little Romy’s parents banned Kinder chocolates from her snacks

Two years later, Romy is a little girl full of life, but her dad remains traumatized by twelve days of anguish spent in the hospital alongside his dehydrated and perfused daughter. The salmonellosis she suffered from can be fatal. Romy was barely 2 years old when she was hospitalized for violent vomiting accompanied by fever. “She weighed less than 10 kilos, we could see her ribs. It’s anxiety, it’s fear, it’s tears… It was really very, very hard for us,” his father testifies.

At that time, the Kinder scandal had not yet broken out. Neither the family nor the doctors imagine that chocolate could have been the cause of the little girl’s contamination. So when she starts to feel a little better, to comfort her, her parents offer her a Kinder… The vomiting and diarrhea immediately resume.

Romy will still manage to recover. It was only the day after his release from hospital, on April 5, 2022, that his parents learned like everyone else, through the media, that the Kinders could be responsible for the infection. Just before Easter, the news made headlines. Across Europe, Ferrero is recalling millions of chocolates suspected of causing salmonellosis.

From now on, for Romy’s snack, chocolate eggs from the Ferrero group are banned. His parents are “fallen from a height” : they had confidence, they themselves ate Kinder when they were little. And then the brand has “many means to control hygiene”… These contaminated chocolate eggs and other Ferrero products sickened more than 450 consumers, sending nearly half of them to the hospital. The vast majority were children under 10 years old.

Two investigations, one in Belgium and one in France, are underway to determine whether or not Ferrero breached its obligations. In a response sent by email to “Additional investigation”, the Italian group indicates that “All batches of products have been rigorously tested before being released to the market”.

Excerpt from “Ferrero: the little secrets of the chocolate giant”, a document to see in “Additional investigation” on October 17, 2024.

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