The million-bar withdrawl of Cadbury products has taken a slight turn for the worse. The Times today reports that tests had showed a possible link between the salmonella strain that has infected the chocolate and dozens of cases of illness around Britain. "At least 53 people are known to have come down with severe stomach upsets after contracting salmonella montevideo, a rare strain of the disease."
Cadbury's has been singled out for not following simple food safety guidelines. The high levels of fat and sugar in chocolate makes it an ideal vehicle for hositng salmonella and carrying it through to the intestine. They also failed to alert the Food Standards Agency when first discovering traces back in January at their Herefordshire plant. The Marlbrook plant produces nearly 100,000 tonnes of chocolate crumb a year, which is sent to other factories to be mixed with cocoa butter and made into chocolate products.
The company said the contamination was traced to a leak in a pipe carrying waste water from cleaning machinery that was dripping on to the floor near a conveyor belt. Cadbury said the pipe was fixed at that time, so ending the problem.
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