A SHOPKEEPER in Bronllys has been fined £6000 after trading standards officers found more than 20 food items for sale were past their use-by date.

Inspectors who found 25 out of date products, including cooked meats and stuffing, at the Premier Stores this May had already cautioned owner Paramjot Singh three months beforehand.

The 49-year-old pleaded guilty to seven related charges at Brecon Magistrates Court last Friday (November 12).

Prosecutor Nigel Vaughan said officers previously found a single item past its use-by in February this year but that little seemed to have improved since, despite the warning that followed.

But some of the offending items, which included a packet of chicken and stuffing that had started to decompose, were stocked on a sale or return basis, the court heard, and were only a day out of date when the discovery was made.

Defence lawyer Geraint Jones said they should have been taken out of the fridge that morning but that it was important to clarify they were not “well past” their use-by date as previously described.

For the full story see today's Hereford Times .