Guilty grocer fined for out-of-date sausages

Sausages Pic:Meredith James Johnstone

A grocer in Croydon has been fined almost £2,000 for leaving ham and sausages that were past their sell by dates on his shelves for sale.

Sinniah Sivasankar pleaded guilty to selling out-of-date food at his shop on Portland Road, South Norwood, in Croydon Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

A member of the public spotted the out-of-date food and complained to the council’s food safety team.

When they visited the store, they found two packs of ham and cheese wraps that were a month out-of-date.

They also found a pack of garlic sausages and sausage rolls that were a week past their best.

Sivasankar also pleaded guilty to failing to have a stock rotation system in place. He was fined £325 for each offence, a victim surcharge of £15 and £1,167 for the councils’ costs. In total, his bill was £1,932.

Simon Hoar, Cabinet Member of Community Safety, said: “It can’t be overstated that food sellers have a grave duty to ensure that their goods are properly rotated to ensure that potentially dangerous, out-of-date produce is removed from sale.

“It’s not unlikely that somebody with poor vision could have failed to notice that the ‘use-by’ date had been exceeded, eaten the food in good faith, and then have suffered food poisoning, or worse, as a result.”

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