Yahoo Finance Woolworths fined $50,000 for selling expired baby formula
A supermarket in north Queensland has been penalised $50,000 after tins of baby formula with expired use-by dates were found to be on sale.
Cairns Post reported the fine was handed down by the Cairns Magistrates Court on Wednesday after the Woolworths, on Abbott St in Cairns, pleaded guilty to four counts of breaching the Food Act.
The saga started in July last year when an off-duty environmental officer saw an expired tin in the store.
When Queensland Health raided the supermarket on the next day, it discovered four expired tins of S26 Gold in a "clearance sale" section. The court heard three of the tins were 119 days out of date.
Later a fifth expired can was found, this time Blackmores Newborn formula, which was 152 past its use-by.
While Magistrate Janelle Brassington noted no one had become ill, it was "of grave concern" that formula was made for "vulnerable" newborn babies.
Queensland Health's legal representative barrister Stephanie Williams said this Woolworths had a "recalcitrant attitude" towards selling expired products.
"Clearly ... the defendant did not, until the audit, glean that staff at this particular store were not trained in, or following, correct procedures."
Woolworths' barrister Barry Dean said while the store's employees had now been trained in proper disposal procedures, at the time of the offence there was a "complete failure”.
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