Tesco fined for selling expired food

Food safety inspectors have slammed the retail giant Tesco with a €1,000,000 fine for selling food passed its expiry date. Its hypermarket in the western Slovak town of Partizánske (in the Trenčín region) repeatedly sold out-of-date food with rotten fruit & vegetables being spotted on shelves numerous times, according to inspectors. The inspectors of the State Veterinary and Food Institute of the Slovak Republic (ŠVPS) considered the hefty fine to be fair for the repeated offenses. The Slovak arm of Tesco considers the penalty unlawful and plans to challenge it at court. "We have long maintained that €1M fines are inappropriate and the same remains true in this case", the communications manager for Tesco Slovakia told Zuzana Lošáková from the news website Aktuality.sk. This fine follows a string of unfortunate events for the UK retailer involving declining sales figures and large lay-offs after the closure of stores in the neighbouring countries of the Czech Republic and Hungary.