LONDON (Reuters) — A UK court fined Cadbury Schweppes, the world's largest confectionery group, [POUNDSTERLING]1 million ($2 million) yesterday for selling unsafe chocolate in Britain and Ireland during 2006 in a salmonella health scare.Cadbury, which makes Dairy Milk chocolate, had pleaded guilty after a number of people were left ill and some victims spent a number of days in hospital.

Cadbury accepted the outcome and admitted the factory process it had followed in Britain was unacceptable. It added it had spent $20 million to prevent this happening again.

"We have apologised for this and do so again today. In particular we offer our sincere regrets and apologies to anyone who was made ill as a result of this failure," Cadbury said in a statement after the judge's sentence.

The London-based group was also ordered to pay costs of more than [POUNDSTERLING]152,000 by a judge at Birmingham's Crown Court, after being prosecuted by Birmingham City Council and a neighbouring council in Herefordshire. The sentencing of both cases was brought together.

In June 2006, Cadbury admitted to the salmonella problem at one of its UK plants, and recalled more than 1 million chocolate bars in the UK and Irish markets, costing [POUNDSTERLING]30 million, as they could contain minute traces of salmonella.

Birmingham council prosecuted Cadbury under the UK General Food Regulations and Food Hygiene Regulations for, among other things, failing immediately to alert authorities it had reason to believe some of its chocolate was infected with salmonella.

Cadbury's UK chocolate manufacturing is based at Bournville, Birmingham, in the English West Midlands. The problem occurred at its Marlbrook plant in Herefordshire, 50 miles south-west of Birmingham.

Cadbury detected salmonella on January 19, 2006, at Marlbrook, which produces chocolate crumb mixture, but did not admit the problem until five months later on June 23, which it said was linked to a leaking pipe.

Analysts said the fine was not material to the group, and said mitigating factors limiting the fine would have been that Cadbury had quickly admitted its guilt and said it had been mistaken that the infection did not pose a threat to health.

Cadbury's shares were largely unmoved by the ruling, 0.08 percent down at 655 pence in a lower London market by 14.50 GMT.