Sainsbury's blames short shopworkers

Prosecutions and Claims |
11.01.2008

Sainsbury's has been fined £23,000 after being found guilty of selling out-of-date food.

Shoppers reported that various food items at the London stores were more than a month out of date. The supermarket giant pleaded guilty to seven offences under Regulation 44(1)(d) of the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court.

In mitigation, Sainsbury's said the reason why some items were missed by code checkers looking for out of date food was because they were too short to reach the top shelves.

Richard Block, operations manager for food, health and safety at Westminster City Council, said: "The consequences of eating out of date meat and pate - particularly if it's a whole month past its use by date - could be extremely serious.

"We are grateful to the shoppers for bringing these incidents to our attention and hope that the public disgrace of being found guilty in a court of law will prompt rapid change in some of our highest profile supermarkets.

He added that the council hopes this case will highlight the fact all supermarkets, large or small, need to keep a close eye on use-by dates to maintain public health.