Coles has been fined over $30,000 for displaying food which was beyond its use-by date at its McLaren Vale supermarket in Adelaide.
The Magistrates Court was told some of the 33 items were about two weeks out of date, ABC News reports.
Coles had recently moved to new supermarket premises in the Main Road shopping centre when council inspectors found the out-dated items, which included shaved ham and packaged salami.
Magistrate David Whittle said the store's date-checking process had failed as many as three times.
Lawyers for Coles entered guilty pleas on seven counts of breaching the food code and the prosecution dropped another 15 charges.
The magistrate said there was no evidence the items had become unsafe but out-of-date food had the potential to be a risk to public health.
The court was told Coles had changed its procedures to avoid any repeat of the problem.
Coles issued a statement, which said "At Coles we take food safety seriously and our South Australian stores have had an outstanding record in this area. We set high standards and when we do not meet them we take accountability and fix the problem."
The court also ordered the retailer to pay $10,000 for Onkaparinga Council's legal costs.