Cadbury will be prosecuted for continuing to sell chocolate bars that were unsafe to eat five months after it had discovered a salmonella contamination at one of its factories.

The chocolate company is facing allegations of selling food that was unfit for human consumption and failure to inform the proper authorities of the health risks. Cadbury will appear in court in June, Birmingham City Council announced today.

Cadbury Schweppes's share price dipped 0.6 per cent this morning as the City reacted to the news. The company has already lost at least £30 million after recalling the potentially harmful products.

The company released a short statement this morning insisting that it had fully co-operated with the authorities throughout their inquiries. "We will examine the charges that have been brought,” it said.

One million chocolate bars were withdrawn from sale on the orders of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) last June, five months after the company knew about the contamination.

Cadbury kept quiet about the salmonella explaining that only traces of the potentially fatal bacteria were present in the bars. However, the FSA condemned Cadbury, saying that salmonella was unacceptable at any level.

The contamination at the Marlbrook plant near Leominster, Herefordshire was blamed on a leaky pipe, carrying dirty water from a cleaning machine, it was repaired in January 2006 and samples of chocolate were sent to be analysed. The tests revealed that the montevideo strain of salmonella was present, but Cadbury failed to inform the FSA of the infection and did not withdraw the affected products from sale.

The contamination in the chocolate was discovered after an unusual surge in cases of salmonella poisoning in the UK. In 2005 there were 14 reported cases, mostly from people returning from holidays abroad. Yet, in the four months until June 2006 there were more than 50 cases, often affecting children. Tests revealed the salmonella montevideo strain was responsible for much of the poisoning.

The FSA then ordered Cadbury to withdraw the affected products from British shops including the eight-chunk and 1kg Dairy Milk bars, and the Dairy Milk Caramel and Turkish bars.

Cadbury will face three charges at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on June 15. They will be prosecuted for selling products that were unfit to eat, failing to tell the authorities that they had discovered a salmonella contamination and ignoring the safeguards to be implemented after such a discovery. The charges carry penalties of up to two years in jail and unlimited fines.

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