Wrong use-by date forces Sainsbury pork pie recall

Human error is the likely cause of the labelling error that led to Sainsbury withdrawing its own brand Crusty Bake Pork Pies on Friday, October 21.

A full product recall of the packs of two pork pies was carried out after the company’s quality checks revealed they were labelled with the wrong use-by date.

The withdrawn 160g packs, which are sold exclusively through Sainsbury’s stores, showed a use-by date of December 25 instead of October 25.

A company spokeswoman said although the exact cause of the problem was yet to be established with the supplier, human error was the likely explanation at this stage.

“We have not had a problem like this before,” she said. “It was an isolated incident and we did not have any customer complaints - the measures we took were precautionary.”

Sainsbury undertook an immediate full product recall, placed notices in the national papers and point of sale notices in all stores.

Products with the correct use-by date are now back on supermarket shelves.