Offering food for sale after its labelled “use by” date is prima facie a criminal offence

R (on the application of Tesco Stores Ltd) v Birmingham Magistrates’ Court [2020] EWHC 799 (Admin)

On 6 April 2020, the High Court in R (on the application of Tesco Stores Ltd) v Birmingham Magistrates’ Court [2020] EWHC 799, dismissed an application for judicial review and held that, by displaying for sale items of food with an expired “use by” date, Tesco Stores Ltd had committed a criminal offence under regulation 19 of the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013, because it had placed food on the market that was “unsafe” in breach of article 14(1) of the Food Safety regulation.

Read more in this alerter by Hazel Jackson