What Is Being Hidden from the Public in the Cornflakes Scandal? Until We Know, Customers Are Walking Away

The cornflakes and 'Delipkan' from Telma (Unilever) are among the company's strongest brands. However, these days, retail networks report a thirty to fifty percent drop in sales of these cereals, after it was revealed last week that a Salmonella bacterium was found in the production line. Sales of other breakfast cereals from Unilever, which have not had any reported problems, also decreased by about fifteen percent.

Why is this happening? Following the 'TheMarker' exposure last week about the contamination in the production line, it turns out that Unilever did its utmost to hide from the public the presence of Salmonella bacteria at the plant. Even after Unilever started a secret recall from the stores, they initially claimed that: "The shortages on the shelves are due to production halt and unprecedented demand due to promotions."

Only after the media exposure that the product distribution was stopped due to the discovery of Salmonella in some products did Unilever confirm the report. "Four weeks ago, a suspicion of Salmonella was found in one out of ten production lines. The line was shut down for 24 hours, cleaned, and resumed operation. The other lines continued to produce as usual," the company stated.

(Photo: PR)

According to the company's statement, the products distributed to the public are completely safe to use. "According to our strict company regulations, every product series produced in our plant is quarantined for several days and rigorously tested," stated the company message. "If a defect is discovered, the series is not marketed to stores. This was also the case about a month ago, therefore no defective product reached the market."

In an additional statement, Unilever emphasized that "we want to stress once again that all Telma cereal products on the shelves and in homes are safe to use."

In an interview on Channel 2 News last weekend, Unilever CEO Anat Gabriel said that perhaps the company should have acted differently but wanted to avoid causing public panic.

Despite all these announcements, Unilever is still keeping its cards close, and the public, for its part, is leaving their cereal brands on the shelves. Attempts to extract information from company representatives regarding the production dates of the contaminated products have all failed. 'TheMarker' even reported that: "Unilever did not agree to provide the information even after it was clarified to the company that the requested production dates would be used to check the products' safety and would not be published."

It should be noted that according to the Ministry of Health's instructions, there is no obligation for the company to report a product defect as long as it is not marketed to the stores. In recent days, the ministry announced that they would consider changing the regulations and require companies discovering a defect in one of their products to report it immediately to the Ministry of Health and the media.

And what about the open cornflakes package in consumers' homes? Unilever firmly claims that the products marketed to stores are free from any Salmonella risk but allows consumers to return open packages to them and receive a refund.