Shopkeeper fined £4,000 after selling chicken, turkey and beef hundreds of days out of date
5 September 2023, 14:51
A Leeds shopkeeper has been fined £4,000 after selling 50 items which were collectively more than 2,700 days past their sell-by dates.
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Items found by inspectors include sliced chicken 104 days past its expiry date, as well as sliced beef that had gone off 97 days ago.
Four packs of turkey rashers 90 days were found beyond their expiry, as were five packs of sliced turkey 83 days out of date.
The discoveries were made during a routine inspection at BK Stores in Harehills in November last year.
The store's owner, Aamir Masood, plead guilty to food safety and hygiene offences.
He was fined around £4,000 and made to pay a contribution towards prosecution costs.
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The storeowner claimed his supplies had not replaced his expired food, insisting date code checks were carried out weekly.
Trading Standards manager David Strover said: “Businesses must ensure that they undertake regular date checks on items bearing use by dates, they must invest in appropriate staff training and recording methods to ensure these checks are performed. It is the responsibility of food retailers to ensure such checks take place.
"Use by dates are placed on foods which are highly perishable from a microbiological view and are therefore likely, after a short period, to constitute an immediate danger to human health.
"Trading Standards will continue to take action against any businesses flouting the law.”
