A factory worker in Italy has avoided jail time after she hit her colleague on the head with a chocolate bar, resulting in the woman being hospitalized with a head injury and a broken tooth.

The incident took place at the Laica chocolate factory in Arona, Italy, on November 22, 2018, when two workers at the facility began arguing for a sustained period during a public demonstration about chocolate.

After the argument became heated, the woman picked up a 2.2lb chocolate bar and hit her colleague over the head with it, causing the worker to end up in the emergency room with a broken tooth and a head injury.

The victim suffered from the head injury for 15 days and the woman was reported to the local police for assault. She was fired by Laica for the incident, according to an article on Tuesday in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

But a judge on Thursday June 24 ruled that the woman did not need to stand trial for the incident because she had completed a period of socially useful work that her lawyers had set up for her.

The judge decided “not to proceed” with the trial against the worker after she successfully completed the socially useful work, meaning that the case was dismissed and the charges were dropped, according to Dissapore.

Laica was founded in 1946 in Arona and was initially called Sant’Alberto before the name was changed in 1948. It is known for selling chocolate coins, rabbits and Santa Clauses during the festive period.

A study in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology in 2020 found a link between eating chocolate at least once a week and better heart health.

The authors claimed that the findings suggest the food could be good for our blood vessels, as those in the nine-year study who ate chocolate once a week had a lower risk of developing coronary artery disease (CAD) than those who consumed it less.

“Overall, the benefits of nutrients in chocolate appear promising and chocolate consumption at least once a week may be beneficial for CAD prevention,” the authors wrote.

They were clear that it is important to remember that there could be additional “unfavorable effects” in the extra calories from fat, milk and sugar in certain chocolate products.

However, they concluded that “dark chocolate consumption at least once a week (e.g. as a substitute for sugared candy) with overall caloric intake tracking is probably safe.”