One of the Head chefs of the Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi which is operated by Kempinski was asked to pay the fine for one day old yoghurt.

Inspectors found the expired food item during a non-scheduled visit to the kitchen of the Michelin rated restaurant at the Emirates Palace last month.

Souces tell us that the restaurant in question was outsourced.

In the court session, the chef was found guilty and order to pay Dirham 92,000 (70,000 for not educating his staff on the emirate's food expiration laws, 20,000 for storing expired food and 2,000 municipality's fees).

The National reported "PH (The chef) appealed the court sentence in the past few weeks, and the case was referred to the Criminal Court of Appeal, where it was heard yesterday.

His attorney said the food was only one day past its use-by date; court documents do not specify when the food expired. Yesterday PH pleaded with the judge to have the fine overturned."

Food hygiene in the Emirates is monitored by the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, while the Abu Dhabi Municipality also is involved in inspections.

Neither organization was represented during the court session nor have issued any statements on this particular case.