Workers identified the hazelnut and chocolate spread manufactured under the brand name Nocilla for Spanish company Idilia Foods as one of the main food products made on the third floor of the Hashem Foods factory. Early reports suggest that a pipeline carrying edible oil from one floor to another exploded.
According to a news report on 9 July, fire fighters said that: “Edible oil used as raw material to make a chocolate and hazelnut spread fuelled the fire at Hashem Foods Ltd factory that kept burning for around 24 hours.” The report identified the edible oil as a Nocilla ingredient.
Hashem Foods management ignored warning notices on fire safety and child labour a month before the tragic fire that killed an unknown number of workers, including children as young as 11 years old.