Supermarket giant Tesco has been fined more than £7.5 million for selling out-of-date food at three stores in Birmingham.
The supermarket chain was handed the fine by a judge at Birmingham magistrates court on Monday 19th April, after admitting 22 breaches of food safety and hygiene regulations between 2016 and 2017.
Offending items were found at two Tesco Express stores, one in the city centre and one in the Bournville area, plus a Tesco Metro in Bristol Road South. Food inspectors visited all three premises.
A Tesco spokesperson said: “We’re disappointed that a small number of out-of-date products were found on sale in three stores in 2016/17.
“The safety of our customers is always our priority and these incidents are not representative of the high standards of safety and quality we expect in Tesco stores.
“We took immediate action to address this at the time and we want to reassure our customers that we have robust procedures in place to make sure that this doesn’t happen.”
Date-checking at each store is now externally approved by Hertfordshire county council because the company’s Welwyn Garden City head office is in that local authority’s area.
The company was also ordered to pay a £170 victim surcharge.
