After 180 years as an icon of British business, Cadbury will end 2009 and enter 2010 facing a fight for its independence.

The threat comes from Kraft Foods, the US food giant behind brands such as Oreo and Dairylea, which is now intent on a hostile takeover of the company.

The move has prompted widespread alarm among staff, trade unions, MPs and even members of the Cadbury family, calling for Cadbury to remain in British hands.

“[Kraft] won’t understand the history and quality of the company,” Felicity Loudon, a descendent of the company’s founder, George Cadbury, told the BBC recently.

In November, MPs from Birmingham, where Cadbury is based, even tabled a House of Commons motion calling for government support to keep Cadbury in the hands of “an innovative British company”.

And Cadbury’s has entered into talks with US sweets firm Hershey about a deal that would help it escape the Kraft bid.