Millions of chocolate bars recalled as food maker blackmailed
reports from Australia reveal chocolate maker Masterfoods has
pulled a massive three million chocolate bars from the shelves
after extortionist threats.
Underlining food safety fears and the vulnerability of food makers in the food chain, the millions of Mars and Snickers chocolate bars have been buried near Sydney after fears over pesticide contamination.
The bars were removed from sale in New South Wales last Friday after the company received a series of letters claiming seven Mars and Snickers bars had been contaminated in the Sydney area, reports The Advertiser.
Fears were compounded after the latest letter came on the same day tests confirmed a Snickers bar sent to MasterFoods headquarters last month was contaminated with a pesticide-like substance that could be harmful to children.
The case underlines the potential vulnerability of food makers. According to the reports, the case is all the more extraordinary because, unlike previous contamination cases, the extortionist was trying to intimidate a third party, with whom MasterFoods has no links.
Costs of the extortionist threat to the food firm are likely to run into several millions of Australian dollars. According to the reports more than A$2 million (€1.24m) worth of Mars and Snickers bars are sold in NSW each month.
Bars have been retrieved from 25,000 retail outlets and 10,000 vending machine and charity points.
Reacting to the fears, scientists from Science Australia claim that packaging may soon contain colour-changing dyes that indicate if the product has been tampered with or damaged.
Dr Andrew Scully from the governments Food Science Australia has said intelligent packaging, being developed by the CSIRO, could be one way to prevent extortion attempts against food manufactures.
The packaging is based on irreversible colour changing dyes. Once the package has been damaged or punctured in some way, it would trigger a change of colour.
