Cadbury Schweppes, the confectionery and drinks giant, is facing an unlimited fine after pleading guilty to three food and hygiene offences in connection with a salmonella scare that led to the recall of more than a million chocolate bars.

Lawyers for Cadbury, whose popular Dairy Milk bars were at the centre of last summer’s scare that food standards authorities estimate affected more than 30 people, entered the pleas during a 10-minute hearing at Birmingham Magistrates Court this morning.

Cadbury was accused by Birmingham City Council of selling “unsafe” products, failing to report the problem immediately and general breaches of food hygiene and hazard controls.

Ron Reid, a food safety expert at Shoosmiths solicitors, said it was “best practice to get the guilty pleas in at the earliest opportunity if you aren’t intending to fight the case as an early plea can knock a third off the eventual fine.”

Despite this, and the fact that Cadbury claims to have co-operated fully with the Council’s investigation, Mr Reid said the fine would probably be in the “hundreds of thousands” of pounds.

The fine will be decided at a separate hearing at Birmingham Crown Court on July 13 .

Hilary Ross, a food safety partner at Berwin Leighton Paisner, has previously said that the case was “the most serious ever to be prosecuted under the food regulations in this country” adding that “the whole food industry will be watching it very carefully.”

This morning’s admission also increases the chances that Cadbury, which said it lost around £30 million because of the recall, will face private litigation claims.

Lawyers at Irwin Mitchell are already preparing a case on behalf of 12 people who claim they became ill after eating Cadbury products. One of the 12, Catherine Henderson from Northern Ireland, spent five days in a hospital isolation ward with food poisoning thought to have been caused by eating Cadbury’s chocolate.

Sallie Booth, the Irwin Mitchell partner advising on the case, said today's admission was a "welcome development" that would "undoubtedly strengthen our chances of securing compensation." Ms Booth declined to comment on the status of her case other than to say she had been in "constructive" talks with Cadbury's lawyers.

Cadbury Schweppes declined to comment on the compensation claims.

The charges relate to an outbreak of Salmonella at Cadbury’s Marlbrook factory in Herefordshire, that was first detected on Januray 19 last year. Cadbury later admitted that it failed to report the incident, blamed on a leaking pipe, because it believed there was no risk to human health.

Also this morning, Herefordshire Council confirmed that it will launch a separate prosecution following an investigation by its environmental health team.

In a statement Cadbury said: “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.”

“We have apologised for this and do so again today. Since last year more than £20 million has been spent in the UK on new and rigorous quality control procedures.

“The processes that led to this failure ceased from June last year and will never be reinstated.”

Food safety laws allow for individuals to be prosecuted for breaches of health and safety regulations although no individual charges have yet been brought in this case.

If charged, individuals could face a maximum of two years in jail although Nick McMahon, a health and safety partner at Reynolds Porter Chamberlain, said it was “unlikely that anyone at Cadbury would lose their liberty over this case.”

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