Woolworths store fined $50k after out-of-date baby formula found for sale

A Woolworths store in Cairns has been fined $50,000 after out-of-date baby formula was found in the clearance section.

The court was today told an off-duty environmental health officer first noticed the out-of-date product on July 11, 2018.

He returned the following day with another officer to investigate and found three cans of S26 Gold Infant Formula 119 days past their use by date and one can that was four days past its use by date.

On the following day a can of Blackmans Newborn formula was found to be 152 days past its use by date.

Magistrate Janelle Brassington today fined Woolworths $50,000 plus legal costs, for the "potentially grave health risks".

"The level of risk was low for any harm to come, but when you're dealing with such a vulnerable population, babies or infants zero to six months, the existence of any risk is of great concern," she said.

"The seriousness of the offending... it seems to me is significant, that there were cans of formula that were actually found in the clearance section.

"That indicates that someone in the store has turned their minds to the date."

Woolworths has since retrained store staff, and changed policies and procedures regarding long-life products.

"At Woolworths we take food safety and quality very seriously," it said in a statement.

"We have introduced new processes and improvements in to our stores to ensure food safety and quality standards are met. These include increased team training and additional date checks.

"It's vital that our customers trust the integrity of our quality standards, and we're always striving to improve our processes to help us deliver on this."