THESE days it is difficult to avoid television programmes about the quality and standard of the food we eat.

Whether it is Jamie Oliver's campaign against turkey twizzlers on school menus or, more recently, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall urging us to only buy free-range chickens - there is no escape from the subject.

We find it remarkable, therefore, that in the current climate a major supermarket can end up in court accused of selling rotting fish.

Yet that is just what has happened to the Morrisons store in Roman Way, Malvern.

Yesterday, the supermarket giant, the fourth largest chain in the UK, was fined almost £20,000 and ordered to pay more than £2,000 in costs after admitting charges of selling 'prejudiced food'.

The charges followed an investigation after worms were found in cod bought at the store's fish counter in September 2006.

Trading standards officers later confirmed that levels of bacteria they found in fish at the store two months later were enough to class the food as rotten.

Matters had not improved enough by last June and the firm was charged. The fish sold was not necessarily a health risk but the quality was well below acceptable standards.

Morrisons says it has carried out an internal investigation and staff have been retrained.

That is good news, but this court case must serve as a lesson to all major food retailers in this country.