A FRESH produce retailer has been ordered to pay more than £3,000 for displaying, offering for sale and selling rotten fruit and vegetables that failed to meet minimum quality standards.

Raja Mohammed Farooq Khan, owner of Medina Food Store, Nuns Moor Road, Fenham, Newcastle was charged by Newcastle Magistrates Court on February 27, following a six-month investigation by the Rural Payments Agency’s Horticultural Marketing Inspectors (HMI).

The inspectors are responsible for the enforcement of the EU marketing standards for fresh fruit, vegetables, salad crops, nuts and cultivated mushroom, throughout England and Wales, wherever fresh produce is grown, imported, exported, bought or sold.

A final HMI inspection conducted on September 7, last year, found five offences in breach of the EU marketing rules for fresh produce quality and labelling, including rotten peppers and apples.

Khan pleaded guilty to all charges. He was ordered to pay a fine of £295, £2,798 costs and a £30 victim surcharge.

Alison Johnson, the agency's operations director, said: "Concerted efforts were made by HMI to work closely with the business through face-to-face meetings, verbal warnings and formal written notices, all aimed at achieving improved compliance from the business.

"Unfortunately, such advice is not always heeded and when all other options have been exhausted we will resort to the use of criminal sanction to bring about a required change in behaviour."