4 December 2008 - Ref 53/08
STOURBRIDGE FRUIT & VEG SUPPLIERS
ORDERED TO PAY OVER £17,000 IN FINES AND COSTS
Horticultural Marketing Inspections (HMI), part of the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), successfully prosecuted Food City (Stourbridge) Limited for displaying and selling sub-standard and incorrectly labelled fresh fruit and vegetables, following an investigation and warnings over an 18 month period between June 2006 and December 2007.
On 27 October 2008 at Halesowen Magistrates’ Court, the Company and its owner, Mr Banares Ali, pleaded guilty to a total of thirty two offences (16 offences each) for quality and labelling offences. At a sentencing hearing, held on 24 November, The company was fined a total of £6,400 and Mr Ali was fined £4,000. The fully itemised costs of the prosecution were awarded in full which, along with victims’ support charge, gave a total penalty of £17,762.50.
The charges related to breaches of the EC Grading Rules for fresh fruit and vegetables. Initial intelligence about the firm was received from Dudley Trading Standards Officers back in 2006, following a customer complaint concerning the poor level of quality and labelling being offered for sale at the store. Acting on this, Horticultural Marketing Inspectors carried out a series of targeted, risk-based inspections between June 2006 and December 2007.
Despite repeated attempts at seeking compliance, and HMI issuing formal written and verbal warnings to inform them of possible prosecution action, the firm still made no significant or lasting improvements.
This resulted in HMI making a final evidence gathering inspection on 5 February 2008, when they recorded 16 separate quality or labelling offences against each defendant. The following consignments were recorded in this prosecution as failing to meet the lowest marketable class; 3 separate consignments of apples (varieties, Golden Delicious, Braeburn and Pink Lady), sweet peppers, garlic, cauliflowers, plums, Honeydew melons, prime grapes and shelling peas. Consignments of Brussels sprouts, peaches, Braeburn apples, plums, yellow honeydew melons and cauliflowers were found to be displayed or offered for sale in contravention of labelling rules.
In passing sentence, the Magistrate commented that he found the poor quality levels of fresh fruit and vegetables being sold in this case, quite disturbing.
Note to Editors
1 Food City (Stourbridge) Limited is an independent fresh fruit & vegetable retailer trading from their premises in Lye near Stourbridge, West Midlands
2 The Company was ordered to pay fines of £400 per offence (£6400) and Mr Ali, as owner, was fined £250 per offence (£4000)
3 HMI is part of the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). The Inspectorate is responsible for the enforcement of the EC Marketing Standards for fresh fruit, vegetables, salad crops, nuts, cultivated mushroom, flowers and bulbs throughout England and Wales, wherever fresh produce is grown, imported, exported, bought or sold.
HMI operates a transparent risk-based approach to enforcement and has the principle aim of gaining cooperation and compliance from the trade it regulates at all stages of the distribution chain. Prosecutions are only taken as a last resort when all other options of education and advice have been exhausted.
The prosecution then follows the Hampton procedures of identifying and isolating any persistent and blatant offenders. The ultimate sanction of prosecution is then used as a clear deterrent to others who may look to break European Commission grading rules in order to obtain an advantage over other commercial competitors.
Further information about the work of HMI can be found on RPA’s website at www.rpa.gov.uk
Notes to editors
1 RPA is an Executive Agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), providing a range of key services in support of the department’s objectives, including making rural payments, carrying out rural inspections, and livestock tracing.
2 Media only contact: Caroline Forcer, press officer, 0118 9 687 680
Page published: 5 December 2008