Derby Asda store fined £250k for selling food past use-by date

A supermarket has been fined £250,000 for displaying food on its shelves past its use-by date – some by six months.

Asda Stores Ltd was found guilty of 12 offences at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday in relation to its store in Sinfin, Derby.

The conviction follows an inspection by Trading Standards officers in July 2021 when they found 18 food items past their use-by date.

Victoria Rose, senior Trading Standards officer, said: “Customers should be able to rely on stores such as Asda to supply food that is safe to eat.”

Derby City Council said the Sinfin store had two previous warnings from Trading Standards officers before the court action.

Trading Standards said some of the foods found in breach “were aimed at children and found to be on the shelves six months past their use-by date”.

District Judge Taaffe said Asda Stores Ltd “did not provide a satisfactory defence” but instead “failed to prove that they had implemented their system properly” and “failed to show that they had made improvements” following the warnings received from the Trading Standards team.

Along with the £250,000 fine, Asda Stores Ltd was also told to pay £74,117 in costs and a victim surcharge of £190.

Shiraz Khan, cabinet member for regulatory services at Derby City Council, said: “A fine of this scale reflects the seriousness of the situation and the risk it posed to the people of Derby.

“This case serves as a reminder that we are prepared to take whatever action necessary against businesses that break the rules, no matter how big or small.”

Use-by dates are applied to highly-perishable food items by the manufacturer and are crucial to ensuring customers are buying and consuming safe items.

Trading Standards said shoppers are advised “never to eat food beyond the use-by date, even if it looks and smells ok”.

An Asda spokesperson said: “We regret that a small number of out-of-date products were found on sale at Asda Sinfin in July 2021, and that the high safety and quality standards that we set across all stores were not met on this occasion.

“Our top priority for every Asda store is to always have the freshest products available on our shelves.”