A shopkeeper has been fined for selling out-of-date food and not labelling other items correctly.
Nottingham City Council’s Environmental Heath team said Mohammed Sharif, aged 30, of Chadwick Road, Forest Fields, Nottingham, pleaded guilty at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court to two charges around the sale of ready-to-eat sausages and three related to product information not provided in English.
The council said the items were on sale at the Iced Fire shop, in Laurie Avenue, Nottingham, between May and July, last year.
It said one Sokolow Polish sausage was seven days past its use-by date, giving organisms such as listeria time to grow to “very high levels”.
It also said a lack of mandatory food information in English meant things such as allergens present in some food products on sale would not have been highlighted.
Likewise, it said, storage and cooking instructions should also be in English to ensure food is cooked and stored properly.
The council said: “Businesses which sell food must provide basic information in English, including the product name, list and quantity of ingredients, anything which could trigger allergies, a use-by date and storage details, the country of origin and the name and address of the manufacturer or importer.”
In mitigation, it said the court heard that Mr Sharif acknowledged there had been longstanding issues but had now taken on an additional employee with new quality control procedures in place.
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He said checks were made when stock was delivered and anything not labelled in English or close to its use-by date were not sold.
The court heard that the offences occurred at a time when Mr Sharif was the only person working in the shop and shortly after his father’s death. There have been no issues in the past eight months.
A spokesman said: “While the power to make a prohibition order was brought to the court’s attention by the council, it chose not to make one on this occasion despite accepting that the matter was serious and that the authority had spent time working with the defendant.
“A prohibition order would prevent the business from trading.
“Magistrates did indicate, however, that if the defendant was to appear before the court again, he might be made subject to such an order.”
The council said Mr Sharif was fined £1,600 and will have to pay the council’s investigation costs of £3,528.96, legal fees of £810 and a court-mandated victim surcharge of £160.
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