Guardian : Cadbury allowed salmonella in chocolate to save cash, court told

Cadbury allowed salmonella in chocolate to save cash, court told

Rebecca Smithers | consumer affairs correspondent | July 14, 2007

The confectionery giant Cadbury introduced an "utterly inappropriate" new testing system for salmonella in an attempt to save money by reducing wastage, a court heard yesterday.

But the change led to a "major food poisoning outbreak" last year in which more than 30 people became ill. The company was last June forced to recall more than a million bars of chocolate in one of the biggest public health alerts of its kind.

Cadbury has already pleaded guilty to nine charges relating to breaches of food safety regulations, under a prosecution being brought by Birmingham city council and Herefordshire district council after the 2006 outbreak. It follows a lengthy investigation into conditions at Cadbury's Marlbrook plant, near Leominster, Herefordshire, where chocolate crumb is manufactured and then transferred to the company's factory in Birmingham to be made into bars. The contamination which caused the salmonella has been blamed on a leaky pipe carrying waste water from cleaning machinery.

At the opening of a hearing at Birmingham crown court at which Cadbury will be sentenced, Barry Berlin, prosecuting for Birmingham city council, said that in 2003 Cadbury altered its testing system to allow for what it considered to be "safe" levels of salmonella in its products. But in fact, official guidelines say that there should be no salmonella in ready-to-eat products such as chocolate and confectionery at all.

Referring recorder James Guthrie QC to research literature on salmonella, Mr Berlin went on: "Cadbury knew perfectly well, we submit, that outbreaks of salmonella had been associated with very low levels in chocolate." Although the potentially fatal organism was identified by Cadbury in its products in January last year, the company failed to report it until June. The new testing system was "utterly inappropriate", he said, because it involved "an allowable tolerance level" which suggested, contrary to expert opinion from scientists and health officials, that a minimal level of salmonella was acceptable. The company had also either ignored or not noticed literature about the issue.

Cadbury estimates the national health alert has cost it £30m, triggering a loss of consumer confidence in one of Britain's best-known brands. The case was adjourned until Monday for sentencing.