Pictures of some damaged Ferrero chocolate eggs show those that are affected by a recent product recall related to salmonella and maggots.
Ferrero has recalled some Kinder products because of possible salmonella contamination, not because of maggots—but they do not include the chocolate eggs shown in these pictures, which appear to be damaged.
A widely shared post on Facebook claims to show images of Ferrero chocolate eggs that are part of a product recall “for traces of salmonella and maggots”.
In fact, the eggs in the picture are not affected by a product recall. The manufacturer, Ferrero, has recalled some other products, all from its Kinder range, because salmonella was detected in the factory where they were made, but “maggots” were not involved.
The chocolate eggs in the picture appear to have been made in Italy, going by better-quality photographs obtained by the US fact checker Snopes, but only Ferrero products made in a factory in Belgium are affected by the recall. This factory makes about 7% of the world’s Kinder products each year.
A Ferrero spokesperson told Snopes that the spots or circles in the chocolate in the picture appear to be “granini”, an effect of oils and sugar separating when the product undergoes temperature changes.
Snopes reported that the person who originally wrote this post has since deleted it.
Photograph by Tiia Monto
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as partly false because the chocolate eggs in these pictures are not the ones affected by a recent Ferrero product recall.
Full Fact fights for good, reliable information in the media, online, and in politics.
Bad information ruins lives. It promotes hate, damages people’s health, and hurts democracy. You deserve better.