BOSSES at the Vitality Stadium have been ordered to pay more than £3,000 after cooked hams almost a month past their use-by date were seized by food inspectors.

Council officials applied for an emergency prohibition order to be put in place at the home of AFC Bournemouth at magistrates' court in late February.

The order was granted after it was heard that three out-of-date cooked hams had been found at the stadium on February 17. Two of the hams had gone off on January 26, with the third passing its use-by date on February 7.

It was not alleged that the spoiled food had been served or eaten by any customers.

In addition, inspectors found that a package of food had been vacuum-packed and labelled wrongly.

Items including buttermilk, tartare sauce, pepperoni, mozzarella, lemon mayonnaise, grated cheese, gherkins, banana cake, brioche and fish cake mix were seized by inspectors and have now been incinerated.

The club was ordered to pay £3,010 to Bournemouth council for costs incurred in bringing the hygiene emergency prohibition notice and issuing an emergency prohibition order.

Magistrates also ordered that the club stop using a chamber-style vacuum-packing machine.

A spokesperson from AFC Bournemouth said the stadium was visited by environmental health officers in February.

"Following the visit, one item of incorrectly-labelled vacuum packed food was removed from the premises and has since been incinerated," he said.

"That was the only issue found by officers and the club fully co-operated at all times.

"AFC Bournemouth prides itself on food hygiene and has extremely high standards, as reflected in its five-star rating, which has been held for a number of years.

"This issue has been taken very seriously. All staff have received re-training and new procedures have also been put in place to ensure the situation does not occur again."

Louise Jones, environmental health manager at Bournemouth council, said: "During a routine food hygiene inspection at AFC Bournemouth, officers found some food which had been vacuum packed incorrectly. The food was removed due to the risk of it being contaminated.

“Overall we found the general standards to be good at AFC Bournemouth and they have already complied with the notice."