Easter is next to Christmas the second most important occasion for eating sweets in most countries of the world, with children in particular being the biggest consumers of chocolate Easter bunnies and chocolate Easter eggs. This year, however, things were a little different, and parents had to look carefully when choosing Easter chocolate for their children.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) announced that 150 cases of confirmed or probable salmonella poisoning from infected chocolate products and chocolate eggs have been identified as of April 8. Most of the patients are children under 10 years of age in 10 European countries.

Food contaminated with Salmonella usually does not look, smell or taste spoiled. Anyone can be affected by a Salmonella infection, however, infants, children, seniors and people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of becoming more severely ill due to the vulnerability of their immune systems, according to the CDC.

GALAB Laboratories’ key services include food safety and finding sources of contamination in products to support companies in crisis situations. We do this not only with our analytical testing services, but also with our supply chain traceability solutions for inspection, auditing, sampling and loading control to ensure that your products are ready for delivery to the market.