A Croydon shopkeeper who sold out of date sausages and ham has to fork out £2,000 in fines and costs.

Sinnah Sivasankar, of Portland Wines, in Portland Road, pleaded guilty to selling the food and failing to have a system in place to keep food safe.

The shop was visited on May 17, 2011 and discovered a pack of a pack of garlic sausage and another of sausage rolls were a week out of date, and a further two - packs of ham and cheese wraps were a month past their “use by” date.

Croydon Magistrates Court was told on Tuesday it is illegal to sell any item of food past its “use by” date, and these items could have posed a serious risk of illness to anyone who ate them.

Sivasankar was fined £375 for each offence, plus a victim surcharge of £15. Full costs were awarded to the council in the sum of £1,167, leaving Sivasankar with a bill of £1,932.

Simon Hoar, cabinet member of community safety, said: “Our officers acted with commendable swiftness when this contravention of food-safety laws was reported to them.

“It can’t be overstated that food sellers have a grave duty to ensure that their goods are properly rotated to ensure that potentially dangerous, out-of-date produce is removed from sale.

“It’s not unlikely that somebody with poor vision could have failed to notice that the ‘use-by’ date had been exceeded, eaten the food in good faith, and then have suffered food poisoning, or worse, as a result.”