Woolworths Food Act prosecution

On 08 June 2018 Woolworths Ltd entered pleas of guilty in the Cairns Magistrates Court to 12 charges of breaching the Food Act 2006. In house counsel for Crown Law appeared for Queensland Health to prosecute this matter.

The offending was detected during a State-wide survey conducted by Queensland Health into food retailers’ compliance with date marking provisions of the Food Standards Code, in particular the sale of food past the use-by dates. This was the third survey conducted of a Woolworth’s store where breaches were found that resulted in prosecution. The store manager confirmed at the time of inspection that they were aware of the surveys being conducted and had apparently implemented greater hours in recent weeks in order to prepare for an inspection.

Despite this, 13 food items were located that were displayed for sale past their use by date. The food items were all located in various refrigerated display cabinets throughout the store. The majority of food items were between one and 10 days past the food item’s use-by-date. One food item was 168 days past its use by date.

One of the charges related to the sale of a product with an illegible use-by-date. The particular product had been marked down with a number of stickers applied to it to encourage its sale when it should have been removed from the refrigerator. It was later discovered that it was in fact also 8 days past its use by date.

The defendant had been fined $40,000 after entering a plea of guilty for offending at its store in Roma discovered during the same survey. It was fined $25,000 after trial for offending at its Mission Beach Store. These matters were also prosecuted by in house counsel at Crown Law.

In sentencing for the Cairns matter the Magistrate accepted the submissions made on behalf of the complainant that this was a more serious matter than both Roma and Mission Beach for a number of reasons including that the presence of the fresh product that was 168 days past its use-by-date which was significantly greater than what was discovered in the other stores, the product with the illegible label that had been marked down for quick sale, and the fact that by the time the survey was conducted in Cairns they were on notice that the department was conducting the surveys and still did not have adequate processes in place to capture the food items that were later discovered.

It was taken into account on the defendant’s behalf that there was a timely plea of guilty entered, there were admissions made by the store manager and an action plan was put into place by the store manager before charges were laid.

Balancing the aggravating and mitigating factors as well as the issue of totality the Magistrate imposed a fine of $45,000 and ordered costs of $2,842.55. Convictions were recorded.

In total therefore the defendant company has been fined $110,000 for offending arising out of this particular survey. They have also been ordered to pay costs totaling $11,735.45.