Saudi Arabia and Indonesia Insist on a Test of Cadbury products

Cadbury In A Tough Spot: After Malaysia Contamination, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia Insist on a Product Test

Saudi Arabian authorities have announced that they will be testing chocolate bars made by British confectioner Cadbury after traces of pork DNA were found in two of its products being sold in Malaysia. The use of pork is a violation of Islamic standards. The Saudi Food and Drug Authority has published information about how it has taken samples of Cadbury chocolates from the local market to check if it is contaminated.

The ingestion of pork is strictly prohibited in Islam. Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam . Cadbury products on sale in Saudi Arabia were not manufactured in Malaysia but strong measures will be taken should any of the chocolate products be found to contain traces of pork.

Cadbury's parent company Mondelez International Inc. is also in soup because the scandal over the pork containing chocolates in Malaysia have sparked an outrage among several Muslim groups who are protesting against them. Indonesia which is the world's most populous Muslim country has also said it will be testing Cadbury products to see if they have complied with Islamic standards.

Two varieties of Dairy Milk chocolate bar were found to be contaminated with pork in Malaysia. Cadbury Malaysia has said it has withdrawn the two products as a precaution and they do not have reason to believe there is pork content in any other item produced by them. Cadbury was considered on of the most famous chocolate makers at one point in time but this is changing rapidly. The contaminated products in question were the Cadbury Dairy Milk hazelnut and roasted almond products.

The Cadbury products available in Saudi Arabia have been imported from Egypt and the United Kingdom. The products manufactured in Malaysia are not available in the Saudi market, according to Deputy Chairman for food sector, Dr. Salah Al-Maiman. But the SFDA will definitely take action if lab analysis of Cadbury's products shows any traces of pork content. He has also provided consumers to report to the SFDA in case they find Cadbury cow milk chocolate with hazelnuts of the operation number 200813M01H12 and the expiry date 13/11/2014 and Cadbury cow milk chocolate with roasted almonds of the operation number 221012NO1R11 with expiry date 15/1/2015. Those are not looking to be good numbers for Cadbury or Mondelez right now, for sure.

Roy Alexander Sparingga of the Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency has also declared that tests will be performed on 10 varieties of Cadbury's products certified in Indonesia as halal. A Malay investors group is also urging those with shares in firms with halal status to call for units to provide audits for compliance to Islamic standards.

If you are selling any product all over the world, you need to be careful about what you put into it depending upon the country you are in. This is the cardinal rule for food, services and pharmaceutical companies. Even if “external factors” were the reason, surely the company should have exercised due diligence to prevent such a situation from having arisen in the first place. At this rate, the only claim to fame Cadbury's will soon have left is being a chocolate maker that lands into trouble constantly. For those who believe that even negative publicity has its merits, perhaps this could be the sliver lining in the dark cloud for Cadbury's and Mondelez International.