One of the state’s largest retailers has been convicted of selling underweight tarts and given a hefty fine in Dubbo Local Court yesterday.
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Woolworths Limited pleaded guilty to two counts of selling pre-packed articles marked at a quantity less than they actually were.
The corporation was fined $5,000 for each offence and soon after lodged an appeal against the severity of the sentence in Dubbo District Court.
The NSW Department of Commerce originally brought 12 counts of the charge against Woolworths but after the defence entered a plea of guilty to two charges, the prosecution withdrew the other 10 matters.
The charges related to a visit to the Woolworths Riverdale store by department inspectors on August 27, 2008 where they detected custard tarts at less than the stated weight of 400 grams.
The court heard that one tart was found to be 100 grams underweight and another was 85 grams underweight.
The defence said that the store has more than 20,000 product lines and its bakery had 75 product lines.
The custard tarts were the only products found underweight, the court heard.
“It was a one-off mistake in one store in one product only,” the defence said.
The defence said a staff member had unintentionally made a mistake when making the tarts, to which Magistrate Howard Hamilton interjected that it was the corporation and not the employee that was accused.
In handing down his sentence, Magistrate Hamilton said the legislation had the objective of providing fair dealing for consumers and to allow them to make informed choices.
The submissions made on behalf of Woolworths had focused to a large extent on the tarts being made by an individual, the magistrate said.
“It is, however, the corporation that has an obligation and responsibility for ensuring the corporation will not bring them into conflict with the legislation,” he said.
The court heard that Woolworths had 29 prior matters of this type recorded against them, from 1997 to the last one in March 2003.
Magistrate Hamilton said he took into account that had the tarts not been labelled with their weight, because of their transparent packaging, they would have been exempt from the legislation.
“However consumers are entitled to rely on the accuracy of a label, and more particularly on the accuracy of the label of one of the major retail outlets of this state,” he said.
Woolworths was convicted and fined $5000 for each underweight tart, and ordered to pay an extra $500 in professional costs and $73 in court costs.