Last weekend I taught Jack and Sam about Salmonella contamination in low moisture foods like chocolate – through the somewhat creepy Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Early on in the golden ticket winners visit, Augustus Gloop (which is also a decent band name) falls into the factory’s open chocolate river. Knowing that Salmonella is hearty, especially when stressed in a low moisture environment, and that the chocolate didn’t have a post-river kill step, Wonka yells ‘ You are dirtying my chocolate!’.

In related news, a UK retailer, Aldi, is according to The Telegraph, recalling chocolate due to Salmonella contamination.

Aldi, the discount supermarket, is recalling packs of chocolate after salmonella was detected in a batch. The Food Standards Agency has issued a product recall notice for 200g Choceur Treasures with a best before date of Sept 1. The bacteria was found in a batch of the product that has been on sale in Aldi stores in the Midlands region. The chocolates – a whole hazelnut wrapped in waffle and milk chocolate – at the centre of the scare have been on sale in around 100 stores. Locations if shops include Birmingham, Worcester, Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry and Grantham.

Maybe someone fell into their chocolate river.