Cadbury allegedly knew that the crumb was contaminated with Salmonella back in January but chose not to warn the public or take products off of the market.
It was not until 3 people, including 2 children, got Salmonella food poisoning (salmonellosis) from the chocolate that Cadbury recalled the affected chocolate products on June 23. 1 million Cadbury chocolate products were recalled.
According to a story in the Times, Cadbury's Salmonella testing procedures were inadequate, and Cadbury had the false notion that selling chocolate with low levels of Salmonella is acceptable.
Even small amounts of Salmonella can severely sicken people in high-risk groups, including young children, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems. As one UK food safety official noted, there is no minimum dose for Salmonella.
Chocolate or any other food product with any level of Salmonella contamination should not be sold to consumers.Due to Cadbury's poor testing procedures, failure to promptly disclose information and willingness to sell Salmonella-contaminated chocolate products to consumers (both this year and in a similar situation in 2002), health officials in the UK are testing another 30 Cadbury chocolate products for Salmonella contamination.Again the Cadbury chocolate Salmonella outbreak is not linked to any chocolate sold in the United States.
Checked CDC statistics for Salmonella outbreaks from 1994-2004 (the most recent confirmed statistics published by the CDC). During that time, there was not one Salmonella outbreak in the United States associated with chocolate.
Cadbury Chocolate – Salmonella contamination – the Story
