Asda faces another hefty fine for selling expired food in stores
Supermarket giant Asda has been given a huge fine for selling expired food in two stores, its second such fine in three months.
Repeated checks by Trading Standards officers discovered expired items contrary to food safety codes at its Leckwith and Pentwyn branches in Cardiff.
The TDR-owned grocer was then fined £640,000 for selling 115 expired goods, with some more than a fortnight out of date.
“Asda had systems in place, but those systems were not sufficiently adhered to or implemented,” Judge Charlotte Murphy, who imposed the £640,000 fine plus costs of £15,115, said.
Defending barrister Iain MacDonald said the expired food was a “failure” and “plainly [not] acceptable.”
“[It’s] contrary to Asda’s commitment to provide safe food for its customers,” he told the BBC.
Asda, meanwhile said the breaches were “clearly unacceptable… our usual high standards were not upheld,” a spokesperson said.
“Since then, we have introduced a new date code checking process across all our stores, whereby every short-life product is checked daily so that customers can always buy the freshest products.”
The grocer was fined £400,000 in April after Trading Standards officers found expired food at two of its Cornwall stores.
Norma Mackie, who is responsible for regulatory services at Cardiff Council, said to the BBC: “Consumers should be confident that the food on sale at stores is safe to eat. It is essential that robust systems are in place to prevent the sale of food past its use-by-date.”
Asda has been working hard to reform its image with shoppers after last year saw reports of underpaid and overworked staff, out-of-stock shelves and shrinking sales.
Its share of the market has dropped by 13.6 per cent to 12.6 per cent in the last year, with returning chair Allen Leighton now talking of a ‘war chest’ to invest in price and product ranges, as well as millions for staff pay.