Clio Recalls Products Due to Metal Fragments
This week Clio Snacks expanded an ongoing recall of its chilled yogurt bars to almost all SKUs.
The voluntary recall initially began last month. Customers have reported shiny metal fragments in some bars and the company ultimately decided to widen the recall out of an abundance of caution. Affected bars had expiration dates between early February and early July and were sold in retailers including Costco, Walmart, Sam’s Club, Whole Foods, Star Market, Vons and Big Y.
The cause of the issue is connected to Clio’s chocolate production line, according to the company’s CEO and co-founder, Sergey Konchakovskiy. Clio self manufactures its products, and it also produces the chocolate shell surrounding each bar, rather than buying a premade chocolate mixture that’s simply reheated. During the first quarter, some of the equipment broke, resulting in small metal fragments, under one millimeter in length, being added to the chocolate coating, Konchakovskiy said. Because the chocolate mixture can last for longer periods, it’s made less frequently and in larger batches, he added, so the issue went unnoticed over several production runs.
“Typically it’s an industry standard that you inspect this [chocolate] equipment, like, once a quarter or once every six months, sometimes even once a year,” he said.
In May the company received roughly five consumer complaints about the fragments and, almost simultaneously, its metal detecting equipment began picking up fragments in the bars themselves, Konchakvskiy said. Clio quickly recalled what it thought was the entirety of the impacted flavor but after talking to the FDA this week, the company decided to expand the voluntary recall to all items produced with a chocolate coating. Nine out of ten varieties Clio produces have a chocolate coating, resulting in 21 total SKUs being recalled.
To date, no consumers have reported injuries from the fragments.
“Literally everything was removed from shelves and we really started with products that we have assurance that there is no any potential contamination,” Konchakovskiy said. “Typically we don’t carry much inventory… Basically, we make everything to order.”
Though unrelated, the issues come just weeks after COO Heather MacNeil Cox left the company after deciding to relocate her family, Konchakovskiy said. Cox had been with the company for close to four years, serving as GM/VP of marketing, president and then COO. Konchakovskiy said Clio had planned to hire someone to fill her role, but after the recall, decided to wait on a new addition. In the meantime, he’s brought on a safety and operations consultant, added more frequent inspections of equipment, and installed stronger metal detectors that hopefully will pick up any small fragments going forward.
“The recall is a big lesson for Clio,” Konchakovskiy said. “I mean it’s difficult on the financial side but it’s just something that any person would do.”
