US chocolate giant Mars on Tuesday ordered a massive international recall of Mars and Snickers bars made at its Dutch factory after a piece of plastic found in one snack was traced back to the site.
Millions of chocolate bars were deemed possibly unsafe for consumption in 55 nations after a customer in Germany found a piece of red plastic in his Snickers bar on Jan. 8.
The recall of the snacks also affects Milky Way minis and some boxes of Celebrations, and hit most European nations, but it also extended as far as Vietnam and Sri Lanka.
“As far as we know there are 55 countries involved,” Mars corporate affairs coordinator for the Netherlands Eline Bijveld said, refusing to divulge the whole list.
The recall “only involves the products that are made in the Netherlands” at the Mars factory in the southern town of Veghel, she said, adding the products were mainly sold in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe.
Bijveld could not give the exact number of chocolate bars produced daily at the factory, but said about 4 million items were being recalled in the Netherlands alone.
After the German customer complained to Mars, the plastic was traced back to Veghel, which determined that it came from a protective cover used in the plant’s manufacturing process.
“We are currently investigating exactly what’s happened, but we cannot be sure that this red piece of plastic isn’t in any other of our products from the same production line,” Bijveld said.
It is the first time that Mars has had to recall products made at its Veghel factory, which opened in 1963 and employs about 1,200 people.
Mars said it was recalling the items from Britain, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain, after it already withdrew products from sale in Germany and the Netherlands.
TAIWAN
Consumers in Taiwan have wondered if Snickers bars sold locally might be affected by the recall as Mars has not disclosed a full list of the countries involved.
A Taipei Times reporter yesterday visited two outlets of Family Mart (全家) and 7-Eleven in Taipei, and employees at the two stores said that the Snickers bars they sell are manufactured by Mars either in the US or Russia.
However, since Mars Netherlands exports to some duty-free outlets, the company said the easiest way for consumers to determine whether they have a product that has been recalled is to look at the label.
If it is not labeled “Mars Netherlands,” it is not included in the recall, the company said on its Web site.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last