Bridgend business owner fined for selling out of date food

Trading Standards Officers found 5 items for sale beyond their ‘use by’ dates at Garth General Stores

June 6th, 2022

Officers from Bridgend, Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan’s Shared Regulatory Services inspected Garth General Stores (89 Bridgend Road, Bridgend) on March 29th, 2021. They discovered several food items on sale which were past their ‘use by’ dates. 

Three packs of faggots were found to be 1 day over their use by dates, and two packs of sliced crumbed ham were found to be 2 days beyond their expiry dates. 

A case was brought against Mr Devendra Patel, the owner of Garth General Stores, by Bridgend County Borough Council.  The defendant attended Cardiff Magistrates Court on Friday 20th May 2022 and pleaded guilty to 2 offences under the General Food Regulations 2004. 

The court was advised that the defendant had a previous conviction for similar offences at the same store in 2019. At that time, 21 items were found beyond their ‘use by’ dates and he pleaded guilty to 12 offences.

Mr Patel handed in a letter to the court in mitigation which was not read out and the defendant added nothing further. 

In sentencing the magistrates gave Mr Patel credit for his early guilty plea and he was fined a total of £440, ordered to pay costs of £502 and a victim surcharge of £44.

Helen Picton, Head of Shared Regulatory Services, said: 

‘Retailers have a duty of care to ensure that the food and drink they display for sale is ‘in date’ and safe to consume. During the visit to Garth Stores, our Officers were faced with a number of products on display after their use-by dates, and it was clear that there was no system in place to prevent out of date food being left on sale.’

‘The purpose of a use-by date is to protect the health of consumers. Food manufacturers put these dates onto their products to guarantee the food is safe. When a retailer ignores use-by dates, consumer safety is undermined and the enforcement action that has been taken in this case is entirely appropriate.’