Firefighters Use Shovels to Clean up 1 Tonne of Chocolate After Tank Spill

Firefighters have had to use shovels and, water and blow torches to clear more than a tonne of chocolate that spilled out of a factory in a small town in Germany. The chocolate spilled from a tank inside the DreiMeister factory in the western town of Westönnen late on Monday.

The chocolate quickly solidified as it hit the cold pavement, requiring several hours of labor from emergency services and employees. The company was confident they could return to production quickly. 

Christmas chocolate supply not threatened

"Despite this heartbreaking incident, it is unlikely that a chocolate-free Christmas is imminent," the fire department said. A spokesperson for the factory assured customers there would be no delay in getting Christmas chocolate on the shelves. 

German newspapers reported the leak occurred due to a small technical problem in the tank. The spill made headlines all over the world as people joked about how they would be happy to help. 

On a lighter note, Santa is not going to be happy about what happened in Germany...or maybe it was his doing after all? ? #chocolatespill https://t.co/35gBQi2A04

— Jakob Stollberger (@MonsieurStolli) December 12, 2018

The one job every firefighter lives for.#chocolatespill https://t.co/ayZQhgHme5

— MickeyMooseWings (@WingsMoose) December 12, 2018

Prosecco spill causes tears

It’s not the first delicious factory spill of the year. Back in October, an Italian winery in the shared a video on their Facebook page of a huge tank of Prosecco exploding. An unexplained explosion at the factory caused a 30,000-liter tank of wine to overflow onto the ground. 

The sparkling wine was seen rushing over the side of the tank and pooling at the bottom. The winery in Conegliano posted the video on Facebook, where it was shared by wine lovers everywhere. 

Production up but consumption down

Prosecco is Italy’s version of France's more famous champagne. It is a sparkling wine made from Glera grape, formerly known as Prosecco, although other varieties may also be added. 

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Luckily the overspill of the wine isn’t expected to hurt overall production in the area. The Prosecco DOC region in Italy is predicted to produce 493.3m bottles of wine this season, up from 440m bottles last year. 2017’s harvest was affected by poor weather. 

Prosecco consumption has fallen in the UK, once one of its biggest markets. Brexit is being partly blamed for the decline as well as an increase in the production of UK sparkling wines.