Asda fined more than half a million for out of date food sales
Asda faced four charges relating to the sale of dozens of out of date food items after food safety officers visited the stores on four occasions in 2024.A visit to the Leckwith store on 17 January of that year found 36 out of date items, including five tubs of spicy mayo dip seven days out of date.A visit to the Cardiff Gate store on 25 March found 25 outdated items and another visit to the store a month later found 48 items, including some that were 12 days out of date.A second visit to the Leckwith store on 8 May found a further six out of date items.Cardiff magistrates court heard the first visit to the Leckwith store was a "routine hygiene inspection" but that trading standards officer had visited the Pentwyn store after a complaint from a member of the public.
Defending Asda, barrister Iain MacDonald said it was a "failure" and "plainly wasn't acceptable" that the items were out of date and it was "contrary to Asda's commitment to provide safe food for its customers".The court heard that Asda has an annual turnover of £23-24bn with 1,000 stores in the UK.Mr MacDonald added there were 75 in Wales and that there had been no food standard breaches in its Welsh stores for the past 18 years.He outlined a new system implemented in recent months to address the issue, saying food with a short shelf-life should now be checked daily, while longer life food is checked twice a week. Imposing the large fine, Judge Charlotte Murphy said Asda had systems in place "but those systems were not sufficiently adhered to or implemented".She said the breaches were "not minor" but she accepted that there as a "low risk of an adverse affect on the general public".Asda was given a fine of £640,000 and ordered to pay £15,115 in costs and a £2,000 surcharge.
An Asda spokesperson said it regretted that the out-of-date food was found and accepted that their "usual high standards were not upheld". "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."Norma Mackie, who is responsible for regulatory services at Cardiff Council, welcomed the fine. "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."
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