The largest factory Nutella in the world, at Villers-Ecalles (Seine-Maritime) was arrested on Tuesday "as a precaution" due to a quality defect of one of its products is due to reopen on Monday, announced on Friday evening at Ferrero France in a press release.

The group said that the investigations carried out since Tuesday, "asserted that no finished product stored at the factory had neither a health risk nor a default of quality to our consumers". "All the doubts are fully cleared. This is why we have decided to restart a normal activity within our factory from Monday, February 25, in the morning," says Ferrero France.

Ferrero had assured him that "the results of the investigation would be known by the end of the week," and he "(would) take the necessary corrective measures". Interviewed a few hours before the announcement of Ferrero re-open its plant, the communication service of the French subsidiary of the family group franco-Italian had indicated that "the factory does (reopened) not today". The question of whether the restart was a matter of days, weeks or months, Ferrero had responded with "of days". "The supply of our customers continues without interruption," had assured Ferrero.

Asked about the results of the investigations in progress and on the question of whether the problem was bacterial, the communication department has promised to communicate as soon as he would know more. Friday morning Agriculture minister Didier Guillaume questioned by CNews said: "Apparently, at the time when I speak to you, there would be no health problem".

Ferrero had Wednesday announced the "temporary suspension", "as a precaution" of the plant, which produces 600,000 of pots per day, or a quarter of the world production of chocolate paste made up 56.3% of sugar and 30.9% of fat. "For the time being, we can assert that no product currently on the market is not concerned by the situation", added the company.

"Tuesday, February 19, to 18 hours, to the reading of the results of a quality control within our factory in Villers-Ecalles, we have identified a defect in quality at the level of one of the semi-finished goods used in the manufacture of our products, Nutella and Kinder Bueno", had detailed Ferrero.

"This defect does not correspond to our quality standards, we have therefore taken the decision to temporarily suspend the operation of the factory," explained the company. "We remind once again that the whole of the products present on the market has never been affected by this situation. Our customers can therefore continue to enjoy our products without worry and in peace," said Ferrero on Friday night.

The Ferrero group has doubled its turnover in ten years to reach more than ten billion euros. It has 22 production sites and more than 30,000 employees.