Shopper Laura Whitehead stunned to find dessert 17 days out of date at Asda in Greenhithe after lodging complaint
by Thom Morris
A stunned shopper complained about an
out-of-date supermarket dessert - before finding the
same product for sale 12 days later.
Laura Whitehead bought two portions of
the low-fat Weight Watchers chocolate pudding from Asda in
Greenhithe on October 25.
But as she went to spoon it into her
mouth, Laura's 27-year-old fiance James spotted it was
five days out of date.
Laura, Vimy Drive, Dartford,
complained to the store manager as she feared her wedding day could
have been ruined if she had gone down with food poisoning.
She and IT worker James tied the knot
days later in Wrotham.
But Laura was astonished to
find the same Weight Watchers product still on the
shelves at the same branch of Asda, in Crossways
Boulevard, when she visited again 12 days later on
Tuesday. It was then 17 days passed its sell-by date.
Laura, 29, said: "Imagine my disgust.
These products have a short life following manufacture, after which
they may present a risk of food poisoning.
"Thankfully my fiance spotted this
gross negligence, as without doubt if we'd
"These products have a short life following manufacture, after which they may present a risk of food poisoning..." – Laura Whitehead
eaten these five days
past their use by date we'd have both ended up in hospital with
food poisoning."
Laura added: "When I went into the
store to lodge my complaint, the manager didn't take it remotely
seriously.
"He shrugged and said it was human
error and could give me 100 reasons why it might have happened.
"I was never refunded for the
product. It was also not an isolated incident as the same product
was still on the shelves 12 days later.
"I don't think this is remotely good
enough. He said stock was checked twice a day for errors like this.
That means that not only one person missed this, but the error was
missed 10 times over the course of five days.
"A friend of mine bought out of date
quiche from the store last year. Hers was three days out of date
and she had food poisoning."
The out-of-date
WeightWatchers chocolate desert bought by Laura Whitehead
An Asda spokesman said the store
prides itself on being able to offer the highest quality
of products possible.
He said: "Unfortunately on this
occasion it looks like we didn't live up to our own high
standards.
"Human error led to this product
hanging around on the shelves a little longer than it should have
done, and we apologise to Mrs Whitehead for that.
"We can reassure your readers that the
store has done a full date code check on all similar products and
has found this to be an isolated incident.
"We have refunded Mrs Whitehead the
value of the product and also given her a £10 gift card to make up
for our mistake."
Laura Whitehead bought
the desert at Asda in Greenhithe
09/11/12
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