17 Aug 2025 Dubai-style chocolate food safety alert: lessons learned
When viral food trends overshadow safety – here is some excellent advice from FACTS SA, one of SA’s foremost food safety and regulatory consultancies…
The recent alert over Dubai-style chocolate, specifically Neosis Schokolade Love of Dubai, serves as a stark reminder of how quickly viral trends can outpace essential safety checks.
The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) issued a recall after discovering undeclared peanuts in the product, posing a “serious risk” to individuals with peanut allergies. Read more here.
The allure of riding social media waves – just like TikTok’s ‘Dubai chocolate’ craze – is undeniable. But behind the excitement lurks a common oversight: failing to thoroughly vet raw materials and processing risks before launch.
This isn’t a one-off. Recently, too, the FSA issued a safety warning for multiple Dubai-style chocolates with inaccurate or missing allergen labels, confirming a concerning trend: viral food trends outpacing food safety.
In the rush to capitalise on food trends, companies sometimes overlook critical steps, such as verifying ingredient sources, identifying common allergens, and assessing the risk of cross-contact.
The result? Undeclared allergens end up hidden in products – triggering urgent recalls, eroding consumer trust, and risking public health – all at a huge cost.
Takeaway lessons for manufacturers:
- Understand the regulations: Allergen requirements vary between countries. The allergens you manage locally may differ from those required in your export markets. Ensure you are familiar with the destination country’s regulations, and that your product labelling is fully compliant. If needed, FACTS offers label reviews to confirm compliance with South African regulations.
- Vet suppliers thoroughly: Don’t rely solely on ingredient specification sheets. Review allergen information critically, and follow up with suppliers if anything is unclear. Conduct regular due diligence testing for high-risk products. The FACTS MASTERCLASS | Allergen raw material risk assessment could be the perfect opportunity to elevate your allergen knowledge.
- Assess your processing risks: Evaluate each step in your manufacturing process for potential allergen cross-contact. Consider shared equipment, changeovers, and airborne contamination. Implement robust controls and cleaning validation where allergens are present, and review these regularly – especially when introducing new products or processes. Contact us to find out more about on-site GAP assessments.
- Monitor emerging trends responsibly: While innovation drives growth, it mustn’t come at the expense of safety.
In short, viral buzz should never trump due diligence. Companies can thrive on trend momentum; but only if they pair speed with robust safety checks to protect allergic consumers.
Source: FACTS SA – Learn more here