Local butchers fined over £5,000 for out-of-date food sales

A local butcher has been convicted of selling out of date food products following a visit carried out by Environmental Health Officers from Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council (MTCBC).

Craigs Meat Shack Ltd. running a butchers trading as Craigs Meat Shack out of Unit 10 in Trago Mills, Merthyr Tydfil, was convicted at Merthyr Tydfil Magistrates' Court on 3^rd September 2025 after the company’s Director, Mr Craig Wall, pleaded guilty to seven offences in relation to the sale of unsafe food, contrary to Regulation 4 of The General Food Regulations 2004. The company was fined £3,500 and ordered to pay £854.85 costs and a victim surcharge of £1,400, making a sum total of £5,754.85.

On 29^th October 2024, following a complaint, MTCBC Environmental Health Officers visited Craigs Meat Shack at Unit 10, The Quad, Trago Mills, Swansea Road, Merthyr Tydfil. Whilst investigating the complaint the Officers found that there were numerous food products on display for sale in the display freezers which had passed their use by date. The Food Business Operator, Mr Craig Wall, was unable to provide documentation to evidence that the food was frozen before the use by date. As a result, over a hundred food products were voluntarily surrendered and taken from the premises by the Officers at the time of the visit.

Food that is past its 'use by' date, as opposed to 'best before', is deemed unsafe in law and it is illegal for those items to be sold, anyone doing so is committing a criminal act.

MTCBC’s Environmental Health Manager, said: “Without the Environmental Health Officers’ intervention, out of date food could have unknowingly been consumed by customers and potentially result in them having a foodborne illness. Robust stock rotation systems are vital in all food businesses to ensure that foods are not sold beyond their ‘use by’ date to protect public health.

“I hope this prosecution will send a clear message to any organisation selling food that the wellbeing of the public must be at the heart of what they do. High standards need to be maintained, and the law abided by.”