When Is 200Gm Not 200Gm??

[pastafreak]

Answer...
When Marks & Spencers says it isn't
When the number 200 includes packaging...What The Funicular???
When it's "averaged out"...some will be less,some more. So a 17% difference is OK then?
When "other stores do it"
All of this from an-oh-so-sure-of-herself youngster.

And I asked...what if I buy ten "200gm" packages...and 8 weigh only165...do I get a rebate...money off...an apology...an agreement that this is a rip off??
Any of the above?

I was then told its legal. Really??
Any thoughts?

[Pete65]

Why is there a funicular in your story?

[boxtops]

what product are we talking about, pasta?

[fiction-factory]

I recall matchboxes at one time were labelled with the average number.

[EDDIE51]

if you have actually bought 10 x 200g packs and found 8 were only 165g you have cause for complaint. The permitted variation is more like + or - 2%.
It depends a lot on the weight of the individual items so what product are we talking about? For example a 200g pack of items that each weigh 5g should contain 40 items so plus or minus 1 item would be acceptable.
I have worked as a quality control officer and I know that the sampling system allows no where near 17% varition.

[woofgang]

pasta, you need to be more specific?

[EDDIE51]

Even my 2% was way out, it is a very complicated mathmatcal formula
look at this!
http://nfs-uxsup.csx.cam.ac.uk/~fanf2/hermes/doc/antiforgery/stats.pdf
But basically the permitted weight variation is more like 0.8%

[pastafreak]

Sorry....it was a 200gm pack of prawns. The contents weighed 165gm. More than the permitted 3%.(according to trading standards/citizens advice).

[FrogNog]

What did the bag they came in weigh?

[pastafreak]

The young woman I spoke to initially told me that the packaging was included in the weight. When I spluttered,she called her manager...who told her that variations were permitted..."some packages would be more,some less...other stores do it also". I seriously doubt it.

[pastafreak]

On citizens advice...
"If you pay for a certain weight or measure of food or drink and are not given that amount, you have a legal right to ask the trader for a refund or replacement. The trader may also have committed a criminal offence."
This refers to pre-packed/weighed products.
But...do I have to prove it? The prawns have been eaten

[PankySmooch]

Were they frozen, 35gm was ice?

[pastafreak]

No...fresh...the north Atlantic prawns.

[woofgang]

well yes, I think you would have to prove it.....

[EDDIE51]

Prawns have a higher water content when fresh. The diffrence could be due to them drying out between packing and sale. The permitted weight variations I mentioned only apply to 'dry' goods not meat ,fish , fruit and veg which have a significant water content.

[Peter Pedant]

.

TS should tell you - I thought they DIDNT count the packaging

[ Big thing 20 y ago when mothers union 200g Jam had to be 200g jam and not jam and glass pot - but i dont know if sanity prevailed there ]

[woofgang]

Could the weight difference be "drained weight" I know that some of the packs of prawns have got quite a lot of juice in. Did the pack look much emptier than the others

[-Talbot-]

So we're paying good money for that soggy wetwipe thing in the packet?

[Hopkirk]

Absolutely Talbot.

A lot of our food is tumbled in water to increase the weight - I kid you not.

[FrogNog]

I spent weigh to much time (geddit) working out how much a prawn weighs and you probably lost 4 prawns.
There are better things to waste your time on