Tesco has been fined £7.56million for selling out of date food at three UK stores.

The UK’s biggest grocer was fined at Birmingham magistrates court on Monday and was ordered to pay prosecution costs of £95,500, Birmingham city council said.

The supermarket giant admitted 22 breaches of the food safety and hygiene regulations at three branches in the Midlands.

The charges came after Birmingham city council’s environmental health department received complaints about food being sold past its use-by date.

The investigation found that a number of food products had made it to the shelves between 2016 and 2017.

All UK supermarkets will have a “best before” and a use-by date on all food products including meat, fish, eggs and dairy.

“Best before” dates are often used as guidance only however it is compulsory for all UK stores to put use-by dates on products that carry a safety risk if eaten out of date.

Tesco has said it took “immediate action” to rectify the problem and had made plans to ensure that it never happens again.

A Tesco spokesperson said: “We’re disappointed that a small number of out of date products were found on sale in three stores in 2016/17.

“The safety of our customers is always our priority and these incidents are not representative of the high standards of safety and quality we expect in Tesco stores.

“We took immediate action to address this at the time and we want to reassure our customers that we have robust procedures in place to make sure that this doesn’t happen.”