Packaged foods cheat on weight to pick customers' pockets
"Through checking and measuring pre-packaged consumer food products, we discovered that for every 100 VND, the manufacturer cheated on the weight, stealing 29 VND from customers," said Mr. Nguyen Minh Chien - Head of the Department of Standards, Metrology and Quality of An Giang province.
Recently, fraud has been constantly appearing in pre-packaged goods. Manufacturers often use tricks such as not clearly stating the net weight after thawing on the packaging of frozen goods, stuffing low-quality goods into good-quality goods, incorrectly stating the origin of goods to increase the selling price, missing weight, volume... to pick the pockets of consumers.
Consumers often do not pay attention to the weight of packaged products.
Manufacturers do not specify the net weight after thawing on frozen product packaging, so many items often have a loss rate of 20-25%. Sauces, cooking oils, canned foods with water, etc. are the items that are most often underweight.
According to authorities, although manufacturers are constantly picking the pockets of consumers, consumers either do not pay attention or pay attention but do not know where to "hold on".
Mr. Nguyen Minh Chien, Head of the Department of Standards, Metrology and Quality of An Giang province, said that in September 2012, the Department established an inspection team and purchased 16 samples of goods from supermarkets and stores. The inspection results showed that 7/16 samples did not have enough weight (accounting for 43%).
According to the Department of Standards, Metrology and Quality of Ho Chi Minh City, in the past 10 months, the Department has inspected production, import and trading units of pre-packaged goods in the city, specifically taking samples of 54 batches of candy, sugar, salt, MSG and spice powder and discovered that 2 batches did not meet the requirements.
The Department also coordinated with the People's Committee of District 10 to inspect cakes, jams, and candies at 8 units and discovered that 2/13 shipments and 2/17 product labels did not meet standards.
According to the Department's assessment, production units and importers of pre-packaged goods have not fully complied with the regulations on product labels, specifically, they have recorded incorrect measurement units, missing production addresses (for imported goods), and missing quantitative ingredients. The disadvantaged part always belongs to consumers.
Mr. Dinh Thai Xuan, Head of this Department, explained that the reason why it is not possible to inspect all items in the State management list is due to lack of human resources, lack of legal documents and lack of equipment...
It is known that for establishments whose products are being stolen, the only form of handling is to warn and temporarily stop the circulation of goods for correction and repair. Only when the manufacturer intentionally violates many times will they be subject to administrative sanctions.
Such a penalty is clearly not enough to deter those who intentionally steal product weight to pickpocket customers.
According to Daidoanket-M
