Mars recall caused by maintenance mishap in Dutch factory

Maintenance work mishap at the factory of Mars Netherlands caused a plastic pipe cover to end up in the production process of chocolate bars, which led to the recall of millions of chocolate bars worldwide, Jack Tabbers, general director of Mars Netherlands, told Dutch media on Tuesday.

The plastic pipe cover was grounded during the production process and small parts of it ended up in products. As a result, a piece of plastic was found in one of Mars' products, a snickers mini bar, in Germany recently, said Tabbers.

"We are talking about a piece of plastic of around 15 cm that ended up in the production process, which in the Netherlands alone leads to four million bars being called back. We also have to recall from 55 other countries all products that were produced in Veghel during that same time frame," he added.

Veghel is the town in the south of the Netherlands where the factory of Mars Netherlands is located. All chocolate products produced in that factory, with expiration dates between June 19, 2016 and Jan. 8, 2017, will be recalled. It means a recall of a total of several hundred million chocolate bars, not just Mars bars but also Snickers, Milky Way Mini, Celebrations and MiniMix.

The plastic material that ended up in the production process is not harmful to people's stomach or intestines. The risk is that a piece of plastic can damage their throat or get stuck in there, said Tabbers.

Mars Netherlands does not know yet what the costs of the recall will be. "It will probably cost us millions of euros, but the safety of consumers is more important," said Tabbers.

A spokesperson of Mars Netherlands said that the company is receiving many questions about unsafe chocolate bars. Customers want to know whether their product is a risk product and what they should do if it is.

Dutch consumers in possession of the specific bars are requested not to consume them and to send back the products to Mars, so that they can destroy them. This will happen at a waste treatment plant and Mars personnel will oversee that process, according to the spokesperson.

Supermarkets, shops and gas stations in the Netherlands already started to take the products from their shelves.

Opened in 1963 as the first factory of Mars on the European continent, the plant in Veghel now produces 27 million chocolate bars a day, making it one of the largest chocolate factories in the world. It also provides other Mars plants with semi-finished products such as chocolate and peanuts. Enditem