SHAME!
Well, this is an absolute disgrace....this article has been taken from Sundaymirror.co.uk - Sunday 30th July, 2000.
CHOCOLATE DESTINED TO BECOME PIG FOOD FINISHES UP BACK ON SWEET SHOP SHELVES
SUNDAY MIRROR INVESTIGATION: CADBURY'S INQUIRY AS WE REVEAL WASTE SCAMTHEY are the most famous names on the shelves in Britain's sweet shops - Dairy Milk, Flake and Wispa to name a few.
But the old-established firm of Cadbury's is remelting some of the waste chocolate which has been earmarked for pig food - and making new bars for sale to the public.
The chocolate is classified as Unfit For Human Consumption.
But some of it is recycled and made into fresh bars of bestsellers such as Cadbury's Dairy Milk, Fruit & Nut and Whole Nut.
Recycled chocolate from out-of-date bars, some more than two years old, is used to make Fudge, Caramel, Creme Eggs and Roses, which are sold nationwide.
The 176-year-old firm, which sponsors TV's Coronation Street, was founded on strict Quaker values and is famous for its ethical business principles.
Cadbury's management do not know that their famous product, manufactured by appointment to the Queen, may be contaminated with remelted waste destined for the pig trough.
It is the result of action by some rogue employees at a Cadbury's sub- contractor - part of the company's complicated recycling system set up to save money by salvaging waste chocolate.
Some waste - spillages, rejects, bars and boxes past their Best Before date returned from shops, and damaged goods - can be remelted to make fresh bars.
The leftovers are classified as Unfit For Human Consumption and sold to pig farms around Birmingham.
For 15 years, R. & J.B. Higgins have had the contract for sorting the good chocolate from the bad.
Mixed pallets of waste are sent from the historic Bournville factory in Birmingham to Grove Farm in nearby Chaddesley Corbett.
Up to 10 lorries bearing the famous one-and-a-half pints of milk logo arrive each day. A workforce of about 60 lowly-paid Asian men and women sift through mounds of waste.
A Sunday Mirror investigator infiltrated the plant where the waste is classified into these three categories :
SHOP TYPE: This is chocolate which looks good and is in date or only recently past its Best Before date. Workers said shop waste had to be less than two months past its Best Before date.
Our investigator learned that chocolate up to SEVEN MONTHS out of date was sent back for resale at the Cadbury's factory shop and Cadbury World.
STRIP TYPE: This is second-best chocolate from which the wrapper is stripped and the chocolate is sent back to Cadbury's for remelting. Higgins' workers said this should be less than a year out-of-date. Our investigator saw Fudge bars with Best Before January 1995, some dating back to 1993. One long- serving worker said he often stripped bars with 1998 dates for re-melting.
PIG TYPE: This is out-of-date chocolate, some of which has gone white with age, mouldy chocolate turned green, damaged soft-centred chocolates which have gone gooey, according to workers.
This chocolate is stored on a plastic pallet called the pig pallet. It is then transferred into brown paper bags marked Unfit for Human Consumption then collected by farmers for pig-feed.
We learned that some rogue workers at Higgins operate a fiddle whereby they sift through waste on the pig pallet and in Unfit For Human Consumption bags to top up Strip Type chocolate for re-melting.
They are paid a piece-rate for the amount of chocolate they strip for re-melting, rather than that which is used for feeding pigs. One worker said: "The ladies will earn 50p or pounds 1 per box. Say there are boxes of Wispa Gold and you need another box. You take it from the pig. But no white or green stuff."
But he confirmed that good bars which had been lying next to mouldy bars on the pig pallet had been salvaged.
And workers take chocolate from the pig-food pallet and bags marked Unfit For Human Consumption to top up partially-filled boxes due to go back to Cadbury's for re-melting.
One worker revealed how last summer bars were sent to Higgins already in bags marked Unfit For Human Consumption. He said: "It came about two or three times a week or one load a day. About 25 bags to a pallet.
"For two or three weeks it was in date, but all sticky. It was in the bags but tied up with Sellotape."
Our investigator opened packets of Chocolate Buttons, some of which had Best Before dates which had expired in 1998.
A co-worker said the buttons were going back for re-melting.
One warehouseman said: "You send them back to Cadbury's for remelting when they want them.
"Once, when we were loading up, the pallets of chocolate fell over on the floor and into water. There was some unwrapped chocolate among it. It was reloaded and sent back to Cadbury's.
"Everything goes back to Cadbury's. The chocolate in the bins goes back for remelting. The bins can lie around for a year.
"They are stored on the floor and in the racks."
Our reporter also found three immigrant workers and asylum seekers among the 60-strong workforce at the R. & J.B. Higgins factory.
They are prevented by law from working in the UK.
Asylum seeker Satnam Kaur Khurana, 29, entered Britain from Afghanistan less than two months ago and receives government food vouchers. Kulvinder Singh is working using a false passport and a phoney National Insurance card under the name Jaspal Singh.
There is no suggestion that Higgins knew of their status.
R. & J.B. Higgins is a family firm which was set up by husband-and-wife team Roger and 56-year-old Jean Higgins, who are both directors.
Their 30-year-old son, Adrian, is also a director.
Last year Mr and Mrs Higgins paid themselves pounds 120,575 for management services for the Cadbury's sub-contractor. In 1998 their wages were pounds 114,000.
Last night Cadbury's launched an investigation into work practices at R. & J.B. Higgins.
Spokesman Richard Frost said: "Unfit for Human Consumption means that it does not meet Cadbury's high standards.
"But it is still perfectly safe to eat. It is not contaminated.
"Everything that goes to that facility is basically good, wholesome product - just older than we'd normally want to sell.
"Cadbury's investigators will be crawling all over R. & J.B. Higgins on Monday morning. But we must stress that we have worked with Mr Higgins for 15 years.
"We are still not convinced that workers are motivated to take product from the pig tray and put it into the recycling stream."
Mr Higgins, also unaware of the practice, said: "I'm very proud of my standards and my relationship with Cadbury.
"I work hard to check all aspects of my business.
"If I can't rely on some of my staff to do what I tell them I'm closing the place down. Sixty people will lose their jobs."