Flake recall is firmed up

Was chocolate manufacturer Cadbury being crafty when it recalled 80 000 bars of Dipped Flake - but failed to clearly identify the product?

Not so, says Kraft Foods South Africa, which bought Cadbury last year.

Yet last weekend's newspaper advertisement announcing the recall following a salmonella scare was coy on which chocolate bar was being pulled off shelves. It was only on inquiry by the Sunday Times this week that the company revealed it was the Cadbury Dipped Flake.

Until then the company had referred only to "the chocolate product - Dipped Flake", which was subsequently described in the media as Kraft's dipped flake. No product has been sold in South Africa under that name.

There was also no mention of the recall on Cadbury's SA website. Kraft Foods SA, whose local integration was finalised in March this year, has no corporate website.

But Kraft's corporate affairs and communications director Pat Senne said there was "never any intention to mislead".

"The brand is Flake, the variant Dipped. We refer to the product as "Dipped Flake" and this is the most commonly used expression for this product by South African consumers and the trade," she said.

Senna said the voluntary recall of one batch, with best-before dates of 24 April 2012 and 25 April 2012, followed the detection of "low indications of salmonella" during testing. The source is not yet known.

"We notified the Department of Health and consumers through paid media announcements to ensure and guarantee ... that the consumer could see it," she said. About 83% of affected bars had been recovered.

The symptoms of infection are abdominal pain, nausea and diarrhoea. Kraft had no knowledge of any illness associated with the contaminated chocolate, Senne said.