Asda has rolled out a new date code checking process across all its supermarkets after receiving a £507,767 fine for selling expired food at its Old Mill Lane store in Barnsley.
The Expired Food Discovery
Trading Standards inspectors uncovered 41 out-of-date items during visits to the Barnsley location, including tubs of hummus 16 days past their use-by date, pizzas, and curries. The total exceeded nearly 700 days past use-by dates, despite prior warnings to the store.
Legal Consequences
Asda pleaded guilty to five offences under the Food Safety Act. Each violation carried a £100,000 fine, emphasizing that shops cannot legally sell food past its use-by date—though best-before items remain permissible if they maintain good quality.
Nationwide Improvements
In response, Asda introduced enhanced measures store-wide. The supermarket stated: “We are disappointed that some out-of-date products were found on sale at our Barnsley store in 2024. This fell short of the standards our customers rightly expect and that we hold ourselves to.”
Asda further explained: “In the time since these products were found, we have introduced a new date code checking process in every Asda store to ensure the freshest products are always available for customers to buy.”
Official Reactions
A Barnsley Trading Standards spokesperson noted: “While improvements have been made since these offences, including a new checking system, retraining and increased auditing in the store, the sizeable £100,000 fine per offence sends a clear message that non-compliance never pays.”
Barnsley Council’s public health spokesperson, Cllr Wendy Cain, added: “We’re committed to keeping our communities safe, a responsibility we take very seriously. We expect businesses of all sizes to only sell safe food, and this significant result sends a clear message that we will always put people’s health and safety first, taking action where businesses fail to comply with legislation or respond to warnings.”
