Asda fined £36,000 for selling out of date food

Sep 30 2008 By Justine Halifax

A SUPERMARKET giant has been fined for “letting customers down” after being caught selling food up to a shocking 24 days out of date.

Asda has been fined more than £36,000 after food safety checks by Trading Standards officers found it was selling food past use by dates, despite being cautioned to clean up its act.

The company was fined after pleading guilty to 11 offences at Tamworth Magistrates’ Court.

The prosecution followed an alert from community watchdog volunteers recruited by Staffordshire Trading Standards after they were able to purchase eight items of food between one and two days past sell by dates at the chain’s Stafford store.

Trading standards officers “spoke to managers” and checked no other items were out of date at the store on November 7 last year.

But the discovery led officers to pay a visit to Asda in Tamworth and Cannock the following day.

It was at these two stores that they discovered more food being sold past its sell by and management at both stores were cautioned by Trading Standards officers.

But when officers visited the Tamworth store almost a month later, on December 6, they still found out of date food on sale.

A Trading Standards spokesperson said: “Food bought during the three visits ranged from being one day to 24 days out of date.”

It was as a result of this discovery that the chain was prosecuted.

Asda says it has now changed its stock checking systems and retrained staff in all three stores.

County councillor Carol Dean, Staffordshire’s cabinet member for safer and stronger communities, said: “Trading Standards officers were alerted to a problem at the Stafford store thanks to our community watchdogs who are our eyes and ears throughout the county.

“They then followed this up with visits to stores in Cannock and Tamworth.”

As well as being fined £36,300 the chain was ordered to pay £5,495 costs.