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

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

Lidl is recalling calendars sold at more than 170 stores across the East coast after routine testing detected the food poisoning bug. Customers who bought the Favorina-branded calendars with cream-filled chocolates are entitled to a full refund.

Salmonella causes fever, diarrhea and vomiting in most but can be deadly in children and older adults. For pregnant women, it can trigger an early birth or miscarriage.

It comes after frozen raspberries were recalled because they might contain the ultra-infectious hepatitis virus that can cause liver failure.

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

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

But customers are being asked to return the calendars for a full refund.

The calendars were branded with the Lidl-own Favorina logo, are decorated with a snowy Christmas scene and contain 25 cream-filled chocolates.

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

The German supermarket did not say how salmonella may have entered the chocolates.

But previous contaminations have been down to inadequate sanitation and dirty machinery.

Salmonella lives in the guts of animals, and are shed through their feces.

It can then contaminate foods and water, before being ingested by humans.

Lidl has not offered to replace the calendars, despite it already being the eighth day of December.

The nine states where Lidl operates are: Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia. Stores have also been opened in Washington, D.C.

A spokesman for Lidl said: ‘Lidl US takes the health and safety of its customers as its top priority. 

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

They added: ‘Lidl US regrets any inconvenience related to this voluntary recall, which is issued in keeping with our focus on customer health and safety.’

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

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates salmonella bacteria causes  about 1.35 million infections in the U.S. each year, including 26,500 hospitalizations and 420 deaths.