Food safety and quality

In the 1800s Cadbury's cocoa was "absolutely pure - therefore best". In 1924 Edward Cadbury outlined his first rule of success, "the best quality - nothing is too good for the public".

We have always prided ourselves on making and selling products that are safe to eat. To make sure they are, we follow HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points). Our HACCP requirements are based on the Codex Alimentarius HACCP principles which are approved by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN's World Health Organisation.

HACCP is one of the many requirements of our Quality Management System. It helps identify hazards associated with ingredients and manufacturing processes. We also incorporate elements of the International Standards Organisation's Quality Management System. All of these are designed to ensure that our products may always be enjoyed safely by consumers and are of the highest quality. We also have consumer helplines for consumers to ask questions about products, and to raise any concerns they may have.

As this report was going to press, in the summer of 2006, we recalled certain of our products in the UK. Aspects of the quality assurance process we followed in the UK have created concern in the eyes of the public and our consumers. Although we acted in good faith throughout, but we acknowledge and sincerely regret the concern we have caused. The valuable lessons learned from this experience will help drive process improvement right across our business. In the meantime, our UK production and quality assurance processes are being modified, in order to reassure our consumers and to prevent a recurrence of similar circumstances in the future.

We will continue, as we always have, to recall products if necessary. Consumers are at the heart of our decision-making and we will always consider their concerns.