£2k fine for selling meat past sell by date

A butcher who sold legs and shoulders of lamb described by environmental health officers as discoloured and smelling has been fined £2,000.

Wayne Walker, 38, from Stoke, operating a mobile butchers van, admitted selling food unfit for human consumption when he appeared before Blackpool magistrates.

Prosecutor Clare Holmes said: "The lamb was discoloured and smelling. The officers formed the opinion that they were unfit for human consumption."

The court also heard that mince; sausages and other cuts of lamb were found to be past there sell by date.

In mitigation Walker, a butcher for 16 years, said that staff training had now been upgraded. He added:

"On that day our system broke down. This was something I took very seriously and do regret.

"I don't make a habit of selling out-of-date meat. I don't go around selling meat unfit for human consumption, or I would be out of business."

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