Bosses at world-renowned chocolate maker Cadbury are to be prosecuted over the salmonella scare that saw millions of products taken off shop shelves last year, health bosses at Birmingham City Council have decided.

The authority said today it is to prosecute the city-based confectionery giant on three counts following the contamination of raw materials at the company’s Marlbrook base in Herefordshire.

The company is accused of putting infected chocolate on the market and failing to take appropriate action when the problem surfaced.

Cadbury faces a further accusation that it failed to follow accepted hygiene procedures.

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Bosses at world-renowned chocolate maker Cadbury are to be prosecuted over the salmonella scare that saw millions of products taken off shop shelves last year, health bosses at Birmingham City Council have decided.

The authority said today it is to prosecute the city-based confectionery giant on three counts following the contamination of raw materials at the company’s Marlbrook base in Herefordshire.

The company is accused of putting infected chocolate on the market and failing to take appropriate action when the problem surfaced.

Cadbury faces a further accusation that it failed to follow accepted hygiene procedures.

Many of the Bournville firm’s most famous brands were taken off the shelves for weeks, costing the company £20 million in lost revenue, when the contamination scare became public knowledge last year.

But today’s news from Birmingham City Council, which investigated the incident with Herefordshire health officials, means that the cost of the outbreak could rise still further.

Council spokesman Simon Houltby said that a hearing at Birmingham Magistrates Court in June would see the company called to answer three charges – all of which carry with them unlimited fines on conviction, and the possibility of up to two years in jail for officials deemed responsible.

Two of the charges are brought under the General Food Regulations Act 2004.

They accuse the firm of selling contaminated chocolate between January 19 and March 10 last year, and of failing to immediately inform competent authorities when it realised there may be a salmonella presence in some of their products.

The third charge, under the Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2006 alleges that the company failed to identify hazards from chocolate contaminated with salmonella in line with accepted principles.

Cadbury spokesman Tony Bilsborough said today: “We have fully co-operated with the authorities throughout their inquiries and we will examine the charges that have been brought.”