Fact Check

Bugs Found in Ferrero Rocher Candy?

A video that appears to show bugs found inside the foil Ferrero Rocher candy wrappers could have been staged.

Published Jan. 11, 2017

Claim:
A video shows worms found by a consumer inside the candy wrappers of Ferrero Rocher chocolates.

A video posted to Facebook on 8 January 2017 appears to show people opening the foil packaging covering Ferrero Rocher candies and discovering small, red worms inside which appear to be fly larvae:

The video doesn't say where it was filmed, but the setting appears to be a market of some sort, as the box of candies is handled over a jewelry display. The candy looks as though it may have had been tampered with, as the seal to the box had been broken and some of the candies had been unwrapped before the video started recording.

Brian Brown, curator of entomology at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles said it is unlikely to find fly larvae in candy wrappers. "Nothing’s impossible. But that looks like it was something that was set up."

Ferrero Rocher chocolates are a popular candy sold globally. They consist of a chocolate and hazelnut crust and contain a wafer filling. The company has in the past been the focus of Internet-savvy consumers who claim to have opened their chocolates only to find bugs inside. In 2015, another video that went viral on Facebook (and has since been taken down) made similar claims about finding worms in the candy. At that time, the company responded as follows:

We appreciate you bringing this to our attention as we certainly don't want our fans to experience this or any type of problem with our products. The video you shared reflects a problem that can sometimes occur with food products, called Infestation. Infestation is a problem which can occur during the storage and sometimes the distribution of food products when the products are not stored in ideal conditions. Ferrero has comprehensive pest management programs in place at each of its manufacturing facilities worldwide. In addition, at several stages during the manufacturing processes, insects would not be able to survive given the high temperatures and machinery used. Although we print proper storage instructions on all of our outer cartons and each consumer package, we have no control over the storage conditions and stock rotation policies of our distributors and retailers. Infestation can occur if the product is stored with or near infested food products or pet products. Pests, such as the ones in the video, penetrate nearly any type of confectionery packaging on the market today, except glass or metal.

Because the packaging of the candy in the most recent video appears to have been tampered with before the recording started, it is impossible to tell whether there were in fact bugs in the candy, or whether the video's makers put them there to create a hoax.

Sources

Mtakati, Mduduzi. "Live Worms Found Inside Ferrero Rocher Chocolates." Citizen.co.za. 23 June 2015.

ILOVERMONT. "The Chocolate Everyone Loves.....We Found Bugs In It!" YouTube. 1 December 2007.

Woo, Marcel. "Chinese Woman Claims Finding Maggot in Ferrero Rocher Chocolate." ChinaTopix.com. 1 June 2014.

Bethania Palma is a journalist from the Los Angeles area who has been working in the news industry since 2006.

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