An Indiana firm that recalled its Zachary Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Eggs less than a month before Easter over fears of salmonella contamination now says that a test was wrong and the candy is fine.
Zachary Confections Inc. of Frankfort, Ind., voluntarily pulled four lots of its popular holiday treat on Feb. 27 after a test of one lot by an independent, third-party laboratory indicated a positive result for salmonella bacteria, which can cause illness in people.
Company officials and investigators with the Food and Drug Administration suspended production of the treats until a source could be found, a press release said. But then the lab reported that further testing of the sample detected no salmonella, according to George Anichini, the company's vice president of operations.
"Accordingly, all post-production samples of Zachary Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Eggs have now been confirmed not to contain salmonella and are safe for consumption," firm officials said in a press release.
FDA officials told NBC News on Friday that the Zachary Confections recall was an open investigation and that they could not comment about it. However, the agency has since removed the recall notice from its website.
Anichini would not say how many chocolate-covered marshmallow eggs were affected by the recall. He did note that the company stopped shipments of candy eggs in the delivery chain from reaching consumers. All but 23 cases of the product were accounted for, he said.
No illnesses had been reported in connection with the recall, the firm noted.
The firm reacted quickly to recall the treats out of an abundance of caution, officials said.
"We are dedicated to manufacturing wholesome products for our customers," Anichini said.
It was not immediately clear how the recall would affect the family-owned firm, which has operated since 1950, when it began making solid chocolate bunny rabbits, according to the company's website. The company now makes several varieties of candy, including seasonal treats such as chocolate rabbits and eggs and Halloween candy corn. Easter is March 31.
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