A local village shop owner in Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales has been fined for putting "customers at risk" by selling food past its use by date.
According to local reports, the owner of P&R Convenience Store, trading as Family Shopper in Gilfach Goch, has been prosecuted after his store was found selling fourteen food items that were past their use-by date.
The offence was discovered following a complaint from a member of the public to Rhondda Cynon Taf Council's trading standards department, leading to a visit in order to check compliance.
Some of the food products found to be past their use-by date by the officer at the Family Shopper Gilfach Goch included smoked ham, meatballs and pasties, all of which were between two and three days past their use-by date.
The items that were found past its use-by date included smoked ham, Peter’s classic steak slice, basil pesto and mozzarella pasta and hot and spicy meatballs.
The owner of the village shop has pleaded guilty to all charges and apologised on behalf of the business for the incident, stating that he has since put measures in place to ensure that it does not happen again.
He was also ordered to pay a total of over £1,700, consisting of a £500 fine, £1,028 in costs and a £200 victim surcharge.
Councillor Bob Harris, Cabinet Member for Public Health and Communities, said, "If a shop sells food in our County Borough, they have a responsibility to ensure the goods they sell are safe for customers to consume.
"Use-by dates are applied to highly-perishable food items by the manufacturer and are crucial to ensuring customers are buying and consuming safe items.
"It is unacceptable that a consumer needs to check a product at the point of purchase to ensure that they don’t fall ill, because a business doesn’t have the legally required food hygiene practices in place.
"Precautions to prevent these offences would have been simple, involving the daily checking and removal of foods past their date.
"The dedicated Trading Standards department offers plenty of advice and help to food businesses on a regular basis and most, thankfully, conduct business in a safe manner, which does not put consumers at risk.
"I am confident this latest action sends out a message to businesses across the County Borough to have proper measures in place to ensure they comply with food safety regulations, or they will face the consequences."
Under the General Food Regulations 2004, it is an offence to contravene or fail to comply with specified EU provisions, including the Assimilated EC Regulation 178/2002 which lays down rules relating to the requirements of food law, food safety, presentation – or labelling, traceability and withdrawal, recall and notification.
The Regulations provides that food "shall not be placed on the market if it is unsafe."
