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Mars 55-country recall does not extend to Australia

The Mars voluntary chocolate recall affects 55 countries though not Australia, according to the company.

As reported yesterday, products made at a factory in Veghel, the Netherlands, have been recalled after a complaint last month by a German customer. The consumer found a piece of red plastic in a Snickers bar.

A Mars Australia spokeswoman told the ABC that chocolates in Australia were apparently unaffected.

"We are not aware at this stage of it affecting products brought into Australia by Mars Chocolate Australia and it does not affect any of the products made by us at our facility in Ballarat, Victoria," she said, in a statement to the ABC.

"While the number of products affected is limited, it is possible that some of the affected products have been shipped to duty-free retailers or brought into Australia by third-party importers that are not associated with Mars."

The company has refused to put a figure on the recall of the various products, including Mars, Snickers and Celebrations brands with expiration dates between May and October this year.

Analyst Neil Saunders of consultancy Conlumino said it was certainly in the tens of millions of dollars.

“The cost comes directly from the recall process, the loss of writing off products, and from lost sales,” he told The Guardian.

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