Straus Recalls Elite Branded Products and Faces its Mistakes

Strauss is recalling a variety of its products from the U.S. market after Salmonella was detected in the production line and the liquid chocolate after they neglected the standards of their factories.

The products contaminated include Elite chocolate, cakes, wafers, energy grain snacks, energy chocolate rice cakes, chewing gum, and toffee candies.

Salmonella is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy people infected with Salmonella usually experience typical stomach bug symptoms although in some cases it can turn serious.

Israel’s health ministry has revoked that factory’s license for at least three months until the issues are resolved.

The heads of the Strauss Group held a press conference Thursday to address the issues regarding the company’s operations.

CEO Eyal Dror said during the conference: “We recently renovated the factory and it wasn’t carried out according to proper regulations. About a month before the salmonella was discovered, there were pigeons in the liquid chocolate factory. We work with serious pest control companies but proper work regulations were not upheld. Several times we received indications from one of our customers that there were some anomalies in the products. We didn’t check into it and that’s not okay. We should have behaved differently.”

Ofra Strauss, the chairman of the Strauss Group, said: “I am here to clearly say in the name of the company, we look in the eyes of all the citizens of the state, everyone who has been harmed – I apologize for disappointing you. I apologize for the agmas nefesh that you’re going through because of us.”

“We’ll do everything we can not to disappoint you. The problems in the factory are severe and we promise that we’ll bring back our products as fast as possible but only after we’ve fixed whatever is needed. Food safety won’t be compromised.”