Posted on 07/13/2007 6:51:57 PM PDT by blam
Cadbury's let salmonella get into bars
By Nick Britten
Last Updated: 2:05am BST 14/07/2007
Cadbury Schweppes deliberately allowed salmonella to contaminate its chocolate bars in order to save money, a court was told yesterday.
Thirty people became ill after eating infected chocolate
The Birmingham-based company triggered a major salmonella outbreak last June, which left 30 people ill and three in hospital, after changing its testing systems from a zero-tolerance policy to one in which food containing an "allowable" level of the bacteria was permitted.
Birmingham Crown Court heard that chocolate was easily contaminated by salmonella and Cadbury felt it was wasting money by destroying food containing low levels of the food-poisoning bacteria.
During the scare it was forced to recall more than one million infected chocolate bars which under the old system would not even have been allowed to go on sale.
Barry Berlin, prosecuting, said until 2003 Cadbury had destroyed any chocolate which tested positive for salmonella, adopting an approach that "no amount of testing will make a positive result go away".
He said they then switched to an "utterly inappropriate" system involving "what they believed to be an allowable tolerance level".
He added: "They sought to save money from wastage by allowing a tolerance for salmonella in their food. Large quantities of product were being destroyed and Cadbury's were looking for ways of avoiding that and that's what they did."
Mr Berlin said there was no safe level for salmonella cells in ready-to-eat products and that the organism could survive in chocolate for years.
The court also heard that chocolate acted as a protective layer for salmonella organisms, shielding them from acid in the stomach.
He told Birmingham Crown Court: "Cadbury knew perfectly well that outbreaks of salmonella had been associated with very low levels in chocolate."
The court heard that in early 2006 the problem was so endemic that Cadbury staff were dealing with "daily" salmonella-related problems, and were referring to instances of contamination by an alphabetical series of codewords rather than using what they referred to as the "s-word".
Mr Berlin said Cadbury closed its eyes to what should have been "glaringly obvious" risks.
Last summer's outbreak was traced to a leaking pipe in its factory in Marlbrook, Herefordshire, which dripped water containing the rare Montevideo strain on to a conveyor belt containing chocolate crumb - used to make bars and Easter eggs.
The firm's barrister, Anthony Scrivener, QC, told a previous hearing that it had already spent £20 million on improvements, including changes to quality control procedures.
Cadbury has admitted three charges brought under food and hygiene regulations, including an offence of putting "unsafe" chocolate on the market and one of failing to inform the relevant authorities immediately about the potential dangers posed by the contamination.
The company has also admitted six further breaches of food safety and hygiene laws relating to the condition of the Marlbrook factory between February 2006 and November 2006. It will be sentenced on Monday.
After yesterday's hearing a Cadbury spokesman said: "We have apologised for this and do so again today."
No Hershey’s or Cadbury’s.
What next? Car manufacturers not recalling autos that explode when rear-ended?
Oh wait, never mind.
So the Cadbury Easter eggs were more realistic then we ever knew!!!
Ok, I'm depressed.
What’s the deal with Hershey’s? I haven’t read or heard anything about their products. Fill me in.....
Ed
This time, the Cadberry Bunny really laid an egg.
And prayed for immunity from further lawsuits?
NO MORE CHINESE IMPOR.... wait, where is Birmingham again?
In Europe, Cadbury chocolate is made by Cadbury.
In the U.S., it's made by Hershey's. If you bought some over there (the un-tainted kind) and brought it here for a taste test, you'd notice the difference.
Hersheys moving production to Mexico:
http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/2007/06/allamerican_her.html
Hershey’s taking production to Mexico...
http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/260695.html
http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=29995
The problem with Mexican production:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/world/4961253.html
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=16179§ionid=3510207
The AFL-CIO take:
http://sev.prnewswire.com/food-beverages/20070613/DCW05613062007-1.html
Hershey's closing USA plant (Moving to Mexico)
More about Hersheys:
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20070215/hershey-manufacturing.htm
“the company recently signed a joint venture in China with Lotte Confectionary company as part of its global expansion.”
I notice the communists in the liberal media making up many stories of “tainted” food in our food supply. This is just more anti-capitalist propaganda. Take the spinach that was supposedly tainted with some bacteria. The commies in the FDA and media SAID one person died because of this. I don’t even buy that .who did the autopsy? who was this person.
More Americans die every day murdered by illegal aliens. Where are the media stories on this. Illegals kill 25 Americans everyday.
More Americans die every day in car accidents. Where is the call to ban cars from the media?
17,000 Americans are murdered every year because they won’t let us carry concealed guns.
Thanks!
Hershey’s closing USA plant (Moving to Mexico)
Good then Mexicans will have jobs in Mexico and not come to the U.S.A to ruin the United States like they ruined Mexico.
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