Festive food poisoning as Lidl recalls chocolate advent calendar over salmonella fears

Thousands of Americans should throw out their advent calendars early over fears they may be contaminated with salmonella.

Lidl is recalling calendars sold in more than 170 East Coast stores after routine tests found the food poisoning bug. Customers who purchased Favorina branded cream filled chocolate calendars are eligible for a full refund.

Salmonella causes fever, diarrhea, and vomiting in most, but can be fatal in children and older adults. In pregnant women, it can cause premature birth, stillbirth, or miscarriage.

It comes after frozen raspberries were recalled because they may contain the ultra-contagious hepatitis virus, which can cause liver failure.

Pictured above is the advent calendar being recalled by Lidl. These were sold in the company’s more than 170 stores between October 5 and December 5 in the United States

Lidl announced the voluntary recall after notifying the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). So far, no reports of illness have been received, it said.

However, customers are asked to return the calendars for a full refund.

The calendars have been branded with Lidl’s own Favorina logo, feature a snowy Christmas scene and contain 25 cream colored chocolates.

They can also be identified by their barcode number, which can be found on the back of the packaging: 4056489516965.

The German supermarket did not say how salmonella could have gotten into the chocolates.

However, previous contaminations were due to inadequate sanitation and dirty machinery.

Salmonella live in the intestines of animals and are excreted in their feces.

It can then contaminate food and water before it is ingested by humans.

Lidl has not offered to replace the calendars even though it is already the eighth day of December.

The nine states in which Lidl operates are: Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia. Stores also opened in Washington, DC

A Lidl spokesman said: “Lidl US has the health and safety of its customers as its top priority.

“If customers have purchased this product, they should not consume the product and return it immediately to the nearest Lidl store for a full refund.”

They added: “Lidl US regrets any inconvenience related to this voluntary recall, which is consistent with our focus on customer health and safety.”

The German supermarket sold the calendars in stores between October 5th and December 5th.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that salmonella bacteria cause approximately 1.35 million infections in the United States each year, including 26,500 hospitalizations and 420 deaths.

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk