A major UK supermarket has been fined over £500,000 for selling out-of-date food in one of its stores. Tubs of hummus, which were 16 days past their expiry date, were among 41 items sold despite being out of date.

Asda was ordered to pay £507,767 after pleading guilty to five offences under the Food Safety Act on Thursday, January 29. Trading Standards found a number of out-of-date food items were being sold in the store on Old Mill Lane, Barnsley, including pizzas and curries. Officials warned the items “could have put the public’s health at risk”.

It is illegal for shops to sell food that has passed its expiry date. However, food can legally be sold past its “best-before” date provided it is still of good quality.

A Barnsley Trading Standards spokesperson said: “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.”

An Asda spokesperson said: “We are disappointed that some out-of-date products were found on sale at our Barnsley store in 2024.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.

“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.”