Cloetta wants damages for contaminated candy | Economy

– We are in a discussion with the supplier who has delivered that raw material to us and are seeking compensation, says Henri de Sauvage Nolting in an interview with Dagens industris DiTV.

What the contamination has cost Cloetta has not been made public. But according to de Sauvage Nolting, it will become clear when an agreement with the supplier on compensation has been reached.

He would not say which supplier supplied the contaminated palm oil.

According to the Cloetta manager, an immediate decision was made to stop five “batches” of chocolate candy – several hundred tons in total – when “traces of a substance from an oil used in agricultural machinery” were found.

– The substance is not dangerous. It is not regulated, says de Sauvage Nolting.

However, there are risks with the substance found when consuming large amounts over a long period of time, according to the Cloetta manager, who states that the Swedish Food Agency has supported the company in dealing with the problem.

The DiTV interview is being done since Cloetta reported an operating profit of SEK 193 million for the first quarter of the year, compared to SEK 178 million at the same time last year.

Turnover rose by 6 percent to SEK 2.1 billion.

“I am very pleased to deliver another strong quarter despite the environment we operate in still being affected by food inflation and continued macroeconomic uncertainty. Inflationary pressure varies between different industries, but the confectionery industry in particular continues to be affected by raw material costs increasing with cocoa prices at record high levels,” says de Sauvage-Nolting about the first quarter’s development according to a press release.

The Cloetta share – which plummeted after the news of contaminated chocolate candy earlier this week – rose by just over 4 percent in morning trading on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Since the turn of the year, the share is therefore at minus 7.5 percent.