Council chiefs are seeking almost £34,000 to cover the massive cost of investigating the salmonella contamination of Cadbury's chocolate. Almost one million bars of chocolate were pulled from the shelves after traces of the deadly disease were discovered.

Contamination was traced to the famous company's factory at Marlbrook in Herefordshire which makes chocolate crumb, reports the Bristol Western Daily Press.

Herefordshire Council said it was seeking the money from the Foods Standard Agency to pay for the extensive work carried out by its environmental health officers.