Salmonella contamination

Salmonella analysis of the final product is of great importance, owing to the nature of the harvest and subsequent fermentation in the country of origin and conditions in the supply chain, the presence of Salmonella cannot be excluded. Salmonella does not grow in chocolate.

The low moisture, high fat content, and presence of anthocyanins make chocolate an inhospitable environment for the pathogen.

Temperature of 70-80 °C reached during milling, refining or conching and even after overheating at >100 °C were not sufficient to destroy small numbers of Salmonella.

Once introduced into the chocolate manufacturing process, contamination will be almost impossible to remove without closure of the factory and full cleaning, so the emphasis for control must be focused on eliminating Salmonella in the raw beans and subsequently preventing any cross contamination.

Salmonella infections flowing consumption of contaminated chocolate, although rare, were identified as early as the 1960s.

Salmonella contaminated chocolate has been fingered as the cause of several outbreaks of food-borne illness.

All Salmonella epidemics related to chocolate contamination were widely distributed temporally and geographically and affected large numbers of people , predominantly children.

More than 170 cases of infection with Salmonella eastbourne were reported in Canada and the USA in 1973 – 1974 after the consumption of chocolate products.

In 1982 imported Italian chocolate containing Salmonella Napoli gave rise to many cases of disease in England and Wales.

Salmonella contamination

Salmonella outbreaks in chocolate

It was not often realized that salmonella can persists in chocolate. Salmonella survives in chocolate for years.

In the mid 1970s there were more than 200 cases in Canada and the United States; these were mainly in young children and were caused by the relatively rare Salmonella eastbourne.

This serotype was found to be isolated in chocolate up to 15 months after manufacturers.

In 1982, 269 patients were found to have Salmonella napoli in their feces in comparison to only 15 reported cases in the previous thirty years.

Salmonella napoli named after its Italian origin.

Due to increase in reports of Salmonella napoli, it was controlled by removing a make of imported chocolate from the food chain.

Imported chocolate bars contaminated with Salmonella napoli were distributed to many parts of the country and cases were reported with no clear relationship either in time or place until careful epidemiology suggested the likely means of transmission.
Salmonella outbreaks in chocolate