Tesco has been fined £7.56m for selling food past its use-by date at three of its stores. 

The supermarket admitted 22 breaches of the Food Safety and Hygiene Regulations between 2016 and 2017 following an investigation.

Complaints were received by Birmingham City Council about food being sold past its use-by, prompting inspectors to visit three stores in the city.

Offending items were discovered at two Tesco Express stores – one in Carr’s Lane and the other at 175 Linden Road – and another at a Tesco Metro in Bristol Road South.

Tesco said it was “disappointed” that out-of-date products had made it on to the shelves, saying it took “immediate action” to resolve the issues.

It also said it has “robust procedures” in place to prevent it from happening again.

The company was handed the fine by a judge at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on Monday and was ordered to pay prosecution costs of £95,500. It also had to pay a £170 victim surcharge.

Date-checking at Tesco stores is now externally approved by Hertfordshire County Council, as the company’s head office is located in that local authority’s area.

A Tesco spokesperson said: “We’re disappointed that a small number of out-of-date products were found on sale in three stores in 2016/17.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.”

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