FSA SUPPORT WELCOME OVER CADBURY PROSECUTION - HUHNE

3.22.04pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 25th Jul 2006

Following reports that Cadbury Schweppes could face a damages case as the most likely cause of a salmonella outbreak, the Liberal Democrats have renewed their calls for the prosecution of the company for not notifying the authorities of the infection in their chocolate for five months.

Liberal Democrat Shadow DEFRA Secretary, Chris Huhne has also revealed that the Food Standards Agency is now supporting a potential prosecution by local authorities with a fighting fund and manpower.

He said:

"This concrete support package for a prosecution will turn up the heat on Cadbury Schweppes, whose excuses are already melting away.

"Cadbury has fallen well below the high standards expected of a leading food and drink manufacturer. This looks like a case of corporate cover-up when what was needed was an honest owning-up.

"A prosecution would provide a test case to determine the seriousness with which food businesses take their safety obligations."

ENDS

Notes to Editors

· Chris Huhne MP has tabled a series of Parliamentary Questions on Cadbury. In response the Government admitted that Cadbury did not notify the relevant authorities of the salmonella contamination for 5 months, and had also experienced a previous outbreak in 2002.

Since 1 January 2005, food businesses operators have been required to inform the competent authorities if they consider, or have reason to believe, that a food which they have imported, produced, processed, manufactured or distributed, is not in compliance with the food safety requirements as set out in article 14 of EC regulation 178/2002.

· Under the General Food Regulations 2004, the maximum penalties for not informing the competent authorities as above are two years imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both. The Food Standards Agency and local authorities - in the Cadbury Schweppes case, Herefordshire, Birmingham CC and Bath & North East Somerset - are responsible for enforcement.

· The Agency issued a Food Alert relating to the Cadbury Schweppes recall on 23 June 2006 and an update on 30 June. The 23 June alert provided details of the products being recalled. These are:

Cadbury Dairy Milk Turkish 250g

Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel 250g

Cadbury Dairy Milk Mint 250g

Cadbury Dairy Milk 8 chunk

Cadbury Dairy Milk 1kg

Cadbury Dairy Milk Button Easter Egg 105g

Cadbury Freddo 10p

· The Salmonella Contact Group of the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food met in Oxford on Friday 30 June to discuss the issue. It concluded: 'The presence of salmonella in ready-to-eat foods such as chocolate is unacceptable at any level'.

· Salmonella montevideo food poisoning cases have reported risen from 12 cases last year to 45 in the past four months of this year (Health Protection Agency).