Asda fined £130k for out-of-date ham and cheesecakes

Inspectors found 59 expired grocery items at the Asda in Huyton, Merseyside, last year

An Asda supermarket has been fined £130,000 for selling dozens of out-of-date food items including packets of ham, corned beef and cheesecakes.

Knowsley Council said it had successfully prosecuted the store in Huyton, Merseyside, for selling unsafe food.

Asda Stores Ltd was ordered to pay the fine and £11,000 in costs after it pleaded guilty to breaching food safety and hygiene regulations by selling unsafe food at Liverpool and Knowsley Magistrates' Court on Thursday, according to the council.

A spokesperson for the supermarket said it was "disappointed" out-of-date food had been found on sale and said a new code-checking process had since been introduced in every Asda store.

A list of 59 expired grocery items included 26 packets of ham, 10 cheesecakes, and eight cartons of Creme Fraiche.

Also discovered to be unsafe were four packets of smoky BBQ tasty bites, four packets of "deliciously vegan" no chorizo slices, two packets of smoked salmon, two chicken and bacon bakes, one toffee sundae, one packet of corned beef and one packet of nduja and regato cheese pinwheels.

The pinwheels were found to be on sale 18 days after the use by date had expired.

'Robust action'

The prosecution was based on inspections on 14 February and 20 March 2024 by the council's environmental health team.

It said officers had previously discovered food with an expired use by date on sale and had warned the company it needed to improve its monitoring.

A council investigation found the company had not put in place "adequate steps to remove foods from sale" before the expiry of the use by date.

Food is legally to be considered to be unfit if kept after the use by date has expired.

The prosecution comes after Asda received heavy fines following recent similar prosecutions brought by Derby City Council and Cornwall Council, also for selling food that had expired use by dates.

Knowsley Council cabinet member Shelley Powell said: "It's really important that retailers adhere to the law and ensure that consumers aren't put at any risk due to items being available to buy when the use by date has already expired.

"We will continue to routinely check food businesses to ensure there are no food breaches and take robust action against anyone who is not complying with the law."

The Asda spokesperson added: "We are disappointed that some out-of-date products were found on sale at our Huyton store last year.

"This fell short of the standards our customers rightly expect and that we hold ourselves to."