A FOOD giant has been fined £19,500 for selling rotten fish at a supermarket in Malvern.

Morrisons admitted two charges of selling prejudiced food on its fish counter during a hearing at Worcester Magistrates Court yesterday.

Worcestershire County Council's trading standards team was alerted to an issue with the fish being sold by the UK's fourth largest supermarket chain at its store in Roman Way when a customer found worms in cod fillets bought to feed elderly people at a rest home in September 2006.

Heather Williamson, prosecuting on behalf of Trading Standards, said an investigation was launched and officers found shortcomings into how Morrisons ensures its fish stock is fresh on the counter.

She said the store was unable to offer information on how long fish had been in the store when trading standards took a cod fillet sample in November 2006.

"They couldn't give the boxes with the catch date and use by date because they were thrown away as the fish left the box," she said.

A sample sent off for analysis showed the total volatile nitrogen (TVN) content - the level of bacteria in food - was 99mg in 100g. The court heard anything above 25mg is classified as rotten, while 100mg is considered significantly dangerous of causing food poisoning, although it does depend on an individuals' tolerance.

Miss Williamson said Morrisons was shown the results and contacted for more information on how it handles fresh fish.

"Morrisons stated it had various procedures in place for the sale of fish," she said. "All fish on the fish bar must be sold within five days of its pack date - usually a day before it is delivered. They have a one-in-one-out rule, and use sight and smell checks by staff."

However, Miss Williamson argued these procedures would fall below due diligence tests.

"The staff would have no way of knowing if the fish had been sold within five days of its packed date because the packaging had been thrown away once it was removed," she said.

As a result, a further sample was taken in June 2007 to see if Morrisons had changed its procedures. However, the sample returned a TVN content of 51mg, which is when it was decided to bring the case to court.

Miss Williamson said Morrisons had no previous convictions relating to its fish counter but added trading standards officers in Staffordshire have taken samples of the supermarket's cod fillets following complaints.

In mitgation Karen Southby said the case was a question of quality, not safety, and defended Morrisons' stock control procedures. She said all staff are trained fishmongers who do a variety of checks on fish and equipment every day.

However, she said the company accepted the fish sold was not of a high enough quality, and that all staff had been retrained following an internal investigation.

Ms Southby also said a system that involves keeping the pack date information with the fish on display is being trialled in a number of stores, including Malvern.

However, magistrates fined Morrisons £19,500 and ordered the company to pay £2,138 court costs and a £15 victim surcharge.