Asda Stores fined for displaying unsafe food items for sale beyond use-by dates. Credit: Matthew Ashmore/Shutterstock.

UK supermarket chain Asda Stores has been fined £250,000 ($326,730) for offering unsafe food beyond its use-by date.  

The fine was accompanied by additional costs of £74,117.69 ($96,865.9) and a victim surcharge of £190 ($248.3).  

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The penalty was imposed following an inquiry by Derby City Council’s Trading Standards team.  

The case was adjudicated at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates Court on 16 October 2024. The district judge Jonathan Taaffe found Asda guilty of 11 offences under regulation 19 of the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013. 

A significant part of the fine comes following an inspection at Asda’s store at Sinfin in Derby on 15 July 2021, where officers discovered 18 items past their use-by date, despite previous warnings from Senior Trading Standards Officers. 

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Use-by dates are added on highly perishable goods by manufacturers to prevent customers from purchasing and consuming unsafe items.  

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The Food Standards Agency emphasises these dates as vital, advising against the consumption of products even if they appear and smell fine. 

Taaffe concluded that Asda’s defence was unsatisfactory, highlighting its failure to demonstrate effective implementation of their system or improvements post-warnings.  

Senior trading standards officer and lead investigator Victoria Rose said: “Customers should be able to rely on stores such as Asda to supply food that is safe to eat. It’s my role as a senior trading standards officer to help protect the public when this is not the case, especially when some of these foods were aimed at children and found to be on the shelves six months past their use-by date.” 

In September 2024, Asda employees held demonstrations to mark the commencement of an equal pay case involving 60,000 staff members in the UK.