Mars Incorporated has ordered an international recall on millions of its chocolate bars after a small piece of plastic was found in a Snickers Bar in Germany, but the chocolate maker says it is not aware at this stage of the recall affecting products brought to Australia.
In a statement issued to C&I Week, Mars said it believes it was an isolated incidence but made the precautionary decision to voluntarily recall a number of Snickers, Mars, Milky Way and Celebrations products. The chocolate products have been recalled from 55 countries, mainly in Europe, with only bars labelled “Mars Netherlands” affected.
“The recall concerns only specific products that were manufactured at the Netherlands facility during a limited production period, 5 December 2015 to 18 January 2016,” Mars said.
“This recall is precautionary and is limited to products made by Mars Netherlands. We are not aware at this stage of it affecting products brought into Australia by Mars Chocolate Australia and it does not affect any of the products made by us at our facility in Ballarat, Victoria. Mars products sold in Coles and Woolworths are not affected.
“While the number of products affected is limited, it is possible that some of the affected products have been shipped to duty-free retailers or brought into Australia by third party importers that are not associated with Mars.”