A Worcestershire greengrocer has had to pay more than £10,000 in costs and fines for offering sub-standard produce for sale.

Horticultural Marketing Inspections (HMI), part of the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), successfully prosecuted Redditch-based retailer Roy Freedman - trading as Your Choice Fresh Food Mart - for displaying or offering for sale, sub-standard or incorrectly labelled, fresh fruit. The prosecution came after a series of risk assessment visits, conformity check visits, guidance and warnings during an 18-month period from May 2006 to November 2007.

Freeman pleaded guilty to five separate breaches of EC marketing standards on November 26 last year and at a sentencing hearing last month he was handed down fines totalling £4,750 and ordered to pay costs of £5,327.50.

The charges related to breaches of the EC marketing standards for fresh fruit and vegetables and inspectors carried out a series of visits during the 18-month period during which they offered guidance and advice on grading rules.

HMI said in a statement after the sentencing: “Despite repeated attempts at seeking compliance, including HMI issue of formal written notices and verbal warnings, and provision of an action plan, the firm still made no significant or lasting improvements.

“This resulted in HMI making a final evidence gathering inspection on February 19, 2008, when we recorded the five separate quality and labelling offences.”

The five offences were: one consignment each of UK Egremont Russet and Bramley apples and one each of Belgian Conference and French Comice pears that were of unacceptable quality and a single consignment of walnuts in shells with no country of origin labelling.

In passing sentence, the Chair of the Bench commented the offences were serious and followed after a long period of intervention. He added that full costs were being awarded because if the company had responded to intervention, the matter could have been avoided.

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