The mainstream media have exploded recently with stories about supermarkets short-weighting shoppers on grocery products. What can you do to avoid being cheated by under-weight food packages?
At first…
I thought the ‘under-filled food packages’ uproar was just a tempest in a teapot. A few shoppers complained that they had got home with products from the supermarket and found them to be substantially under their labelled weight. I originally opined that a few isolated incidents could be chalked up to human or mechanical errors on the filling lines at the packaging facilities.
But angry shoppers commented to this blog that the issue was far more widespread than a few cases involving different products, spread across the country.
Then, a few days later, a new story emerged citing Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) figures showing a 140 percent increase in such complaints over the past year.
And I changed my mind…
What you can do
If you find you’ve purchased an under-filled food package, from any grocery retailer, you have recourse.
“I think, for most people, the response that would be practically doable would be [to] go to the retailer, and hopefully they respond positively,” Alex Colangelo, a business law professor at Humber College, told Global News.
But Colangelo says there’s nothing stopping you from taking the supermarket to court. Although… That would cost a lot more than the ‘loss’ you could claim you suffered.
More logically, you could add your complaint to the growing list registered at the CFIA. They have a website dedicated to collecting shopper complaints. And the more they get, the more serious they’ll consider the situation.
They have the right – actually, the obligation – to investigate such complaints. The agency notifies the manufacturer or importer, requests corrective action, and conducts additional inspections including further targeted sampling, seizing of products and requesting recalls.
My take
I’d go to the store, first. And ask to see the manager. Not just the department manager, but the store manager. And I’d take my own kitchen scale to show them the proof. never fear! The Canadian Human Rights Act says they can’t kick you out of the store, even if you come in and weigh every package while you’re shopping. It’s no different at its roots than comparing the prices of similar products to get the best deal…
~ Maggie J.