A Belfast wholesaler 5pac Limited of Blackstaff Road, has been fined £1725 plus £22 costs for packing short-weight punnets of pears and easy-peelers.
The prosecution case was brought under the Weights and Measures (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment's Trading Standards Service.
On 26 and 27 April 2005, a trading standards inspector visited two supermarkets and check- weighed "1kg punnets" of Conference pears and clementines. He found them to be deficient in weight. In a follow up visit to the supermarket's distribution centre he found 120 punnets containing less than 900g with some containing less than 700g.
The punnets had been packed for the supermarket chain by 5pac Limited at its Blackstaff Road premises. However, packing staff had failed to ensure the correct weight of fruit was placed in the punnets.
Trading standard's area inspector, Bill Malloy, said: "It is important that consumers should receive the quantity stated on the label. It is a basic legal requirement dating back centuries. Consumers rarely question the quantity of goods purchased but they can be deficient in weight or measure."
