Cadbury recalls Easter eggs over nut allergy labels

LONDON (Reuters) - British confectionery group Cadbury Schweppes CBRY.L said on Saturday it was withdrawing a number of Easter chocolate products because they did not have the correct nut allergy labeling.

It said the products, only sold in Britain and Ireland, were perfectly safe for people not allergic to nuts.

The withdrawn products included Cadbury Mini Creme Eggs, Cadbury Easter Chicks with Buttons and a variety of different Easter eggs.

A Cadbury spokesman said the affected products were manufactured in Britain with a batch of liquid chocolate made on a French factory line that had previously been used for nut products.

"We found this out yesterday afternoon and we have moved quickly to take action," he said.

"Although this product itself almost certainly doesn't contain nuts, it was made on the same line as something that was.

"As a belt and braces operation it was important that we do take this action and let nut allergy sufferers know. You can't be too careful," he said.

The company is advising nut allergy suffers not to eat any of the recalled products until they called a Cadbury helpline and is offering a full refund.

A full list of the affected products is available on the Cadbury Web site at www.cadbury.co.uk/easterrecall.

The spokesman was unable to say how much the recall would cost the company.

Last year the company was hit by a 30 million pound ($58.5 million) recall of chocolate bars in Britain and Ireland because of minute traces of salmonella in a number of its products.