The world''s largest confectionery group, Cadbury Schweppes Plc, which makes Dairy Milk chocolate, has pleaded guilty to charges of selling unsafe chocolate in Britain and Ireland during the 2006 salmonella scare.

Cadbury, which makes Dairy Milk chocolate, was appearing before Birmingham Magistrates'' Court on charges brought against it by the Birmingham City Council under the UK General Food Regulations and Food Hygiene Regulations for, among other things, failing immediately to alert authorities that it may have had reason to believe some of its chocolate was infected with salmonella.

The UK Health Protection Agency has linked an outbreak of salmonella montevideo to the consumption of Cadbury products.

In a statement Cadbury indicated that it would be pleading guilty to the charges brought by Birmingham City Council in relation to the "contamination of certain Cadbury products last year."

"Mistakenly, we did not believe that there was a threat to health and thus any requirement to report the incident to the authorities -- we accept that this approach was incorrect," the statement added.

Though the confectionery giant faces the prospects of massive fines, which analysts believe would not have an impact the company''s balance sheet and say the fact Cadbury admitted early that it was mistaken about the infection not posing a threat to health could be mitigating factors in its favour.

The verdict is scheduled for 13 July.

The Herefordshire local council has said that it would prosecute Cadbury over the same alleged offence on six counts related to the repairs at its factory, the plant''s layout and provision of adequate drainage, and the cleaning and disinfecting of equipment. The Herefordshire Magistrates'' Court has summoned Cadbury summoned to appear on July 24.

Cadbury''s manufactures chocolate in the UK at Birmingham, while the alleged offence is said to have taken place at its Marlbrook plant, which produces chocolate crumb mixture, 80 km South West of Birmingham, where the company says it detected salmonella on 19 January, 2006.

On 23 June, the company admitted to the problem, which was linked to a leaking pipe, led Cadbury recalling over a million bars of chocolate in the UK and Irish markets at a cost of £30 million.

After months of investigation, Birmingham Council decided in April 2007 to press charges against Cadbury for selling unsafe chocolate products, failing to report salmonella immediately and for failing food hygiene and hazard controls.