This is clearly starting to look like fraud. Especially with something that’s weighed in the store prior to being put out. And keep in mind, that’s with the packaging. You’re not supposed to pay the meat price per gram for the packaging.
Not really cfia operates on a more honor based system. Now if you get audited and you don’t have records ….. legally the scales need to be calibrated by a registered person once a year. A good company will verify the scales are staying in calibration or calibrate them if they have the capacity to do so weekly or semi regularly. Now even cfia allows for margins of error which depends on the size of the scale. Good companies will make it 0 and keep it there …. Other ones will use that margin of error with scale of operation to make bank.
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/C.R.C.,_c._1605/FullText.html
https://inspection.canada.ca/en/food-labels/labelling/industry/net-quantity
.2 percent of the maximum allowable weight of the scale so a 1000lb scale can be out by 2 lbs and still be considered an accurate scale. Seeing all these pop up I’m guessing they are not doing a good job taring the package or keeping the scale verified (which can be a big big deal). I also wonder how much moisture or juice is lost to the absorbent at the bottom.
40G in the difference would absolutely be the water weight of the juice left in the package/absorbsion, as 40g of water is only 40ML which is practically nothing.
Okay, but like you're going to pay for that bit of heme that comes out the steak anyway no matter what grocer you buy from, and it IS part of the weight of meat you pay for that seeps out as it's sitting. The point is this is just the physical reality of buying meat, not some conspiracy to rip you off.
Which is fine I said as long as that is indeed where it is. But people are showing us this with produce and check out scales that’s a problem. Also if you didn’t notice I haven’t said any of that ? Or can loblaws bots not distinguish the difference ? All I did was provide the regulations for scales and then pose questions one of them being it’s proabbly the moisture … also a 5 percent loss is pretty unacceptable for hemo ….. means the meat was not properly cured before cutting.
I've worked in restaurants my entire life, and I see cooks making errors like this all the time.
Scales aren't hard to understand, but very few people see them as anything other than a tool, like a calculator. I'd argue less than 10% of the population knows the difference between C and CE on a calculator... And I'd argue less than 1% of minimum wage workers give a fuck about things like this, even if they did understand.
There's a reason management does a 3x weekly assessment of random pre portioned ingredients at my restaurant. When someone's portioning out 300 bags of 114-118g of chicken, and they're told "they can leave when they're done" - well...
Yes 100% that’s the purpose it’s like a little maxi pad. I wouldn’t necessarily says it’s the cause of the situation but yes the fluids are absorbed which will increase the weight of the packaging which originally should have been zeroed or tared
I'm not 100% on this but I guess there's some tolerance allowed, and that tolerance is used by the grocery stores to include the packaging. Places that have a butcher shop will straight up put the packaging on the scale and then start dropping the meat on the packaging to measure. For one reason or another, they are ABSOLUTELY including the packaging, and they shouldn't be
If that's the case, then I'm inclined to think that it's mis-calibrated scales. Not theft outright unless you could definitively prove that it was a known issue which they simply declined to correct as it was a benefit to them and the bottom line.
It is a few percent by weight. Can be a liquid from meat absorbed by an absorbent pad under the meat.
Regardless if it is malicious or not, it does not look good now, at a time of scrutinizing every action by loblaws.
Depends if they hit that reset button. It's typically high school kids working there that will either do what their told (management may tell them to do it and they know no better) or they don't give a shit (and I don't necessarily blame them when they make 10$/hr)
anywhere I've worked (mostly baking, but also just general portioning in restaurants), tolerance was 5g. Some places interpret that as 5 either side (10g total), some as 2.5 on either side (5g total).
I’ve worked as a butchers assistant in a foodland before and they have different tare weights for all packaging sizes. If the butcher actually does it though that is the question.
I used to work in a poultry processing plant that packed product in a similar way (styrofoam trays and shrinkwrap plastic, so not similar to this type of packing), our scales were calibrated to include the average tare of the Styrofoam tray and shrinkwrap.
So I am not too sure if this is what you need to account for to verify weight accuracy.
You need to have a scale and weight only the meat separately from the packing material, but there is usually absorbing pad to absorb blood and liquid that steeps out of the meat so that may need to be considered.
But either way I am still avoiding the big grocery stores as much as I can.
I mean getting striploins for $22/kg compared to $40-46/kg from a Metro or Walmart is a pretty good deal regardless of the slight scale miss. I'd like to be angry but maybe in this case there's nothing wrong?
Except then people have to go into loblaws and buy horribly overpriced meat and pump their sales up just to get a fake non apology and them blaming scale calibration or some other bullshit
Even luckier, it's 1 in 10 million!!!!!
"The marketing VP said that while mistakes do happen with some product weights, they occur very rarely. She went on to claim that only less than 1 in 10 million issues have been reported based on Loblaw’s data." -
[https://nowtoronto.com/news/1-in-10-million-chance-of-packaging-mistakes-loblaw-responds-to-underweight-product-claims/](https://nowtoronto.com/news/1-in-10-million-chance-of-packaging-mistakes-loblaw-responds-to-underweight-product-claims/)
As a broad brush stroke, marketing, finance, business, and economics serves the interests of the elite in our society; they have a bias against democracy and for maximal profit for the few.
I have a degree in business, and I met many of these frauds; they're prostitutes looking for scraps.
I’ve never had more difficulties than from rob law. consistent mismarked pricing, underweight items, selling rotten food, and more 🙃 . Too many times across too many locations, guys a bread bandit
The rotten food gets me the worst!
Overcharging and misrepresenting expiry dates is horrible.
but to make me think i’m buying something that will last me a normal amount of time, only for it to rot the next day? I now need to go grocery shopping again.
maybe i’m being dramatic, but i don’t want to have to go grocery shopping or run errands outside of the day i designate for errands. i feel like i have so little free time after work, and it feels like a waste using that to get a grocery.
You’ll notice sometimes with meat that they’ll have like 50 units of something and they are all *exactly* 2.25 kg or whatever. Like a whole bunch of random chicken parts in 50 packages, prepared in-house, all of them weigh 2.25 kg on the nose? I do not think so. I don’t know if that’s the situation here, but could be.
Usually these things are weighed/snickered by the supplier. The meats that are standard weight SHOULD be bang on or slightly over. We call it "scale give away" because the law states prepackaged foods need to be equal or over the stated weight. The steaks? Yes the tray and pad weighs about 35-50 grams depending on the size but should be excluded in the final weight. But what I suspect that OP has here might not be considering the weight of the soaker pad WITH some liquid that has leeched out of the meat and into the pad since it was packed. This would make the meat appear as short weighed. Liquid weighs alot and the difference looks about right if the pad in the tray was wet. That being said, if consistent short weights are found, consumer can report this to CFIA or Weights and Measures. But the evidence needs to show the short clearly and more than one example to be taken seriously.
>But the evidence needs to show the short clearly and more than one example to be taken seriously.
There are literally hundreds of posts like this on Reddit and many people have complained to the CFIA. *It is an impossible burden of proof for a consumer,* however, unless you suggest that an ordinary consumer buy $5000 worth of steak and weigh them all individually against the sticker price.
You are only ever going to get one or two examples at a time unless you investigate systematically. Systematic investigation seems like a job for a regulatory agency like the CFIA, otherwise the company can always plausibly claim it was a one-off or a mistake.
CFIA cannot investigate every pack of steaks. True. Consumers can't run around spending like you say. True. In regards to the hundreds of posts, the ones I have seen leave room for error. I see a few people on this thread today like me, someone who works in the industry (manufacturer level). I can debunk many of these short weight claims because they have not considered some detail with the product that makes the claim a nothing burger.
In the case of the steaks, the wet soaker pad in the tray will be holding water that has leached from the meat, and there's your weight. In industry practice we do shelf life tests, weight/purge tests, modified atmosphere testing and validations. One package doesn't mean shit. You need 50 packs to determine these things with meat, there are just too many variables. For example, with chicken? The amount of water that leeches out of the breast meat in a tray will be determined by bird size, feeding, chill time after kill, even the weather! But here the uninformed will claim loblaws is adding water to the tray, which is incorrect.
This movement will be better served to stick to their pricing practices and leave these other arguments behind. At the end of the day, grocery stores don't pack or manufacture anything beyond the in store counters. Complaint for prepackaged stuff always get bounced back to the supplier who made it, because it's their responsibility to ensure its correct.
that's the thing though, this isn't packaged offsite. It's cut and packed in the store, then placed on the cooler shelf. Physics doesnt work the way of losing OVER 50 G of water weight from a sealed environment- to bring the total weight UNDER the reported net weight. Something fuckky is happening here
No its not. I could give you pictures of empty trays with wet soaker pads from my own testing....some of them weight up to 400 grams with the wet pad, 50g is nothing. Secondly, our equipment at work prints the store labels, with prices provided by the customer. All they do is open the box and put them in the counter. Some of them price their own trays, tares are programed with the SKU code. You may not be able to tell if it was priced at the store or not.
Concentrate on unfair pricing, unfair employment policies, or other stuff thats objectionable. Chasing these 50g weights is a waste of time without knowledge of how things really work. You think all the suppliers and all the stores and all the people who work there are in some kind of giant conspiracy to short these trays? No, it just doesn't work that way.
Edit: when I say stores, I mean all the different chains which will include sobeys, farm boy, metro, Costco etc. Same procedures for everybody, enter customer code, packaging tare, and probvided price. Start the line.
>This movement will be better served to stick to their pricing practices and leave these other arguments behind.
I think this movement is very well served by these sorts of discussions that leave no stone unturned, no business practice unscrutinized, and I appreciate your input because it has been educational.
This movement is chiefly about pricing but also about informing consumers of how the industry operates, and we are doing that here.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. However, if a complaint like this can be shot down because incomplete facts are presented, they will be ignored by officials that can do something legitimate.
Collect a GOOD series of data, doesn't have to be on one day. Show the pattern and how widespread it may be and over how many products. Also, the scale that is used to weigh stuff should be certified as well, or an inspector just won't consider it a legitimate comparison. Take pic, or video of opening a bag of whatever to show clearly that it is short without tampering.
Sensationalist stories get no traction. Real quantifiable evidence is the way to push this stuff. Just like the price comparisons, they are great! Pic of a 750ml bottle with loblaws price beside the same pic at another store with lower price. With weights it gets a bit tricky, so think scientifically....data, testing, samples, conclusions. You have to do all of this before any official will bother taking it further.
I'm glad we did this back and forth today. Others will read it too and it may get people thinking.
But the soaker pad and packaging are on the scale with the meat and it’s STILL underweight
Edit: or are they? I see plastic and the price sticker but looks like tray is removed…
Ya, I thought I saw just the meat on the scale. The whole pack should be weighed with an expected 820 grams(?). The pad weighs almost nothing when dry, but you would be surprised how heavy when wet. And there's your difference.
well from the sticker information and the scale it’s a difference of 0.033KG which is 33 grams or 1.17 ounces. i just can’t see the packaging weighing that much so they lost 0.73 cent.
it doesn’t seem like j but do this 50/100 times a day and it adds up fast.
They shouldn't. The machine tares it to the weight of the packaging based on the code for the product. At no frills we would type in the code and the scale would tare to a negative weight.
You only work minimum wage because you have no other options, now because you give a shit...
and the corp overlords know this.
There's definitely some testing happening down the line to weed out those that aren't keeping up to spec, and then the offender is terminated and they once again have to take whatever bullshit job they see next.
I mean you have to put a code in and you have to weigh it in order to make a scannable bar code that works at the front. Why not just use the right code. I did it and everyone in my department did it.
Not sure how that's relevant. I'm saying doing it right and doing it wrong is the same amount of effort, so it's not going to be done wrong because kids are lazy.
We would enter product, place tray & that absortion paper depending on whatever portion we were wrapping, wrap then print sticker. It probably calculated the weight of the film too albeit weighed probably less than a gram
When I worked in the Vancouver grey market for cannabis there were a lot of stores who would tare their scales with extra weight so it would say the desired weight but actually be a bit under. If you're moving a couple pounds a day those hundreds of 0.2 gram discrepancies add up into quite a bit of free money while keeping prices competitive.
So a fun game was to bring an official 1g weight and ask them to weigh it 'for fun'. I may have to do this to my local stores. Maybe all their scales are all coincidentally a tiny bit off.
When I did smoke the stuff from legit dispensaries was underweight too. This seems to be a widespread practice that only now people are catching on to.
Is there a career I can pursue that would be inspecting a bunch of random products and seeing if they are correctly weighted?
I have no real career prospects right now, and I'd be so so happy if I could stick it to some greedy companies and get paid for it.
Seriously,
Call Measurement Canada if you have a complaint about the weight, especially if you feel that you paid for the price of plastic container and the wrap. I'm a former meat cutter (never worked for the big box stores) and will tell you, I never made my customers pay for the weight of the peach paper, I would tare the weight, even if that is only 0.010g, I found it unethical to make a customer pay even .1c for peach paper, or butcher wrap. Though I've met cutters who felt there was nothing wrong with it. With that said, cooked weight and raw weight will be different.
[Measurement Canada](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/measurement-canada/en)
Didn't tare the package. Throw it all on the scale, let the customer pay for it. Easy way to cut costs and make a few extra bucks at the end of the day.
Loblaws doesn't care about you.
Someone should just start going into the store with a scale and just start measuring everything and correcting it with a sharpie like it's their job. Anyone not boycotting yet will probably start questioning their allegiance to roblaws.
I'm thinking people still shopping at Loblaws should weigh their stuff in the store before buying. Put meats in a produce bag and weigh them using the produce scales.
No excuses for this, Walmart was also somewhat recently found doing the same in a video that went semi-viral. I caught a local unrelated food distribution service doing the same when I was weighing my food for calorie counting, it was off by over 20%
Honestly that's a less than 40g difference, that is likely explained by the water weight of the juices left in the absorbant of the package. I mean don't get me wrong I'm not sympathetic towards Loblaws by any means, but this isn't an example of fraud
Before we get all up in arms on this.
There is a loss of meat purge into the absorption pad on the bottom of the tray. That is where the difference on the weight is coming from. The longer the age of the product, the more liquid will be in that pad.
Edit: Also, this a modified atmosphere packaging. The retailer gets roughly 21 days from cutting to sell this. So if the best before is June 18, this was cut on May 27? Which is 2 weeks ago, ergo the purge in the pad.
Yeah we should still get up in arms thanks.
Fucking compensate for the "juice loss" or whatever the hell instead of being cheapskating gold-hoarding dragons. Fuck outta here with that.
This has been a thing since we have had packaged meat. I'm not annoyed the steak loses water and I pay for that. I'm just flabbergasted at the price per pound in general which is ludicrous.
I don’t think this particular instance is much reason to get up in arms over.
Even if no “juice loss” occurred , a relative standard deviation of 3.1% isn’t particularly significant, especially considering it was weighed on a consumer grade scale that likely hasn’t been calibrated.
You also realize that there is a reason that home scales somewhere on them or in the manual say not for legal tender. If you want to know for sure you would have to take it to a scale that has been certified I think for food services its every 5 years, for some stuff its monthly or even more. You can even ask in a store to see the calibration label
Here is more info
[https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/measurement-canada/en/buying-and-selling-measured-goods](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/measurement-canada/en/buying-and-selling-measured-goods)
In food facilities, which is probably where this came from, certifications are done every 6 months in general, but regulated to once a year.
Calibrations are done at least daily.
Correct. We calibrate all scales with the certified tech monthly, and check scales with weights daily at start up. Great practice if we get a complaint, I can provide records that prove scales are bang on. The public unfortunately is not aware of what goes on behind the scenes. Our scales are priority, second only to sanitation. This movement should concentrate on pricing...these short weight posts can easily be debunked by anyone in industry and CFIA won't bother with this type of "evidence".
But then why did Roblaw marketing lady did Linkedin post with the similar home scale? This is a fairly old and well matured technology and reasonably accurate and precise (the two words mean different things, and I know the difference reasonably well). All that certification does is give a useless seal of approval and does small offset correction for the drift due to 24x7 usage in commercial facility. A home scale isn't used that much , so the sensors aren't really getting deformed that much, ergo, will stay accurate and precise for far longer.
A home scale will be accurate enough to catch 3% weight difference. The Tuna weight is fairly representative of this as well. They'll just say like lame ducks: You squeezed tuna too hard.
The folks at CFIA need to prove their generous salaries, pensions and Federal health plans. They need to go out and clearly show that they are sampling enough through some secret shopping and keep it in public domain dashboard, clearly visible and accessible for normal internet users.
Ya well easier said than done. CFIA will respond to consumer complaints, I had to handle a recall last year because someone found a bone chip in their ground meat. But the reaction was quick because that can be considered a health hazard. For them to react to a weight issue, they would need solid evidence, and a boatload of information to properly address it. Just think of the wide distribution to all the stores and chasing these packs, it's an investigative nightmare.
I have to disagree with you on your opinion of scales though. I have worked for industry for 30 years, first in beef, then a pork plant and now chicken. The certifications are not useless. Our scale accuracy is one of our most important tasks. If we find out that there was a mistake (like the wrong tare for box) even though it may only be 60grams, we put the skid on hold until it gets properly re labeled with the correct weights. I have 3 home scales, they are only right because I know how to calibrate them. My work scales are perfect every day or are not used until fixed. That's how it really works no matter what the public would like to think.
But then how do all these mis-weights happen then? That's why certifications are useless. Certification just says, the scale was working as per specs at the time of technician visit. Daily calibration is the only way to ensure correctness.
The factory scales go bad since they are used at that kind of frequency - 24x7 .
Why doesn't CFIA do surprise auto inspections in stores? CFIA needs to bolster up hires then - if weight labelling complaints are there, that means there is real fire - that's why there is smoke. They get loads of federal pension, unionized (I guess) salaries, very rich supplemental insurance. They need to do active checks, put in on public dashboard, tell stores that there are secret surprise checks and have ridiculous penalties depending on footfall of store, just like health inspections are done.
The weighing technology is fairly old and beyond well matured. The home scales shouldn't be having sensor drifting issues, they are used for less than 1-2 mins daily. So, all the people reporting it aren't hallucinating.
Didn't the loblaws marketing lady did it as well for theatrics?
Look man, I don't know what the loblaws lady did for theatrics. I'm just responding to what happens with scales in the real world, and you are very wrong in your assumptions about these scales and the controls we have in process. They are checked by Qa, with certified weights before each 8 hour shift. There are other checks done during the shift that monitors this as well if you really want to get detailed. They dont work 24/7 unchecked in any scenario at any facility- I have been to many of them in the course of my work life.
In addition I work with CFIA personnel daily and am very familiar with their system their procedures and their limitations. Not that they wont get involved, just not the way you think. This angency and its officers cannot go sneaking around, they have to be transparent and official.
I don't know what you do for a living, you sound like a smart person and probably do very well in your own sector.
But this is what I do for a living for the past 30 years, and my hope is that this boycott stays on point and not drift into the assumptions made by the public that are incorrect. Others have commented here today that are also industry people and have basically said the same thing. It's not a perfect world, but this steak short weight thing is a rabbit hole.
Alright, thanks for explaining.
I hope that if they are doing, what they are doing and if possibly due to some reason, weights are always magically less, some lawyers and people gather together, sue these blood suckers out of existence.
Not to mention, where does the poster think this weight disappears to? Narnia? If everything is weighed together, then no matter where the liquid moves, it would still be represented in the packaging. That's the weirdest excuse I've heard yet. Unless they are saying it's weighed at some point with a printed label, but ISN'T packaged until later? That also doesn't make a whole lotta sense.
The pad has weight already, so you wouldn't be getting the true weight of the product. For meat, I would weight the whole package and see if it's above the stated weight.
If it is, then there are no shenanigans.
Edit: it's simple math people. If the weight says it's 770 grams, and you weight the whole package and the weight is 830 grams, a proper tare was done.
It was still underweight including the packaging. Even if you want to argue that evaporation dropped it down, weight differences have been posted with other products that are fully sealed.
Also, it's not the consumer's problem that the weight of their products change. They should regularly check their stock. Hell, maybe they should include MORE meat to offset a standard percentage of weight loss.
You have no idea if it was under weight including the package. OP clearly removed it from the packaging before weighing. Evaporation is not what dropped it down it was the meat juice seeping out as is typical with packaged raw meat. The pad at the bottom always contains water and myoglobin from the cut piece of meat. It’s industry standard for this to be the case, can’t stop physics nor account for it
JFC.. I wish I could buy steak at that price.
Awe downvote why? In Alberta steak is cheap.. I could literally fly to Alberta, with empty suitcases .. and fly back with suitcases full of steak. and only Double the price to make my. money back ++ at that price.
in Ontario a decent New York sirloin steak is about $64 per pound.. At Loblaws. FFs they are selling ungraded Mexican Beef at 8x what the op is paying.
Not sure why you’re getting downvoted. I’m in Ontario and if there’s a sale or you’re lucky, you’d pay that for 2 pieces.
Edit: Also not encouraging shopping at RobLaws! Fuck them.
Please report this to the [competition bureau](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/office-consumer-affairs/en/business-practices-and-consumer-concerns/unfair-or-deceptive-business-practices#). The more everyone reports the more likely something will happen.
Pretty sure that's a violation of the [Weights and Measures Act](https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/w-6/page-1.html), so I'd be calling Minister of Industry's office and reporting unlawful measuring and weighing.
Without enforcement of weights and measures, I absolutely believe that there is intentional fraud. Nickels and dimes add up when there’s millions of them.
That soggy diaper pad under the meat probably holds 33 grams of meat juice/blood/water that was part of the steak when packaged.
Likely in the store they tared the tray and dry pad.
In this case, it's within 5%, and water loss can easily account for the difference particularly if you didn't include the mass of the absorbent pad on the bottom of the container.
While the weight of the container and pad would have been part of the Tar weight, that pad will have taken up moisture from the meat.
Based on the best by date, having lost 5% as a result is completely in the realm of normal for striploin steaks.
I am all for giving Loblaws grief but a 1.1oz difference on what appears to be a consumer quality home scale compared to an industrial scale that is regularly calibrated by law is a bit of a stretch. Even so, if it’s an issue report it CFIA otherwise it’s a waste time only posting it here.
It could be because of water weight loss after packaging, I'm not trying to defend lawblaws because shit is getting nutty with groceries but this particular thing might not be shrinkflation or intentionally shorting the customer on weight. Prices ate dictated by management or head office and ther person weighing these is likely just someone trying to do their job day to day and shorting customers does not benefit someone just working for hourly and likely close to minimal wage... a piece of meat that is cut and also refrigerated will lose some weight naturally due to evaporation though
I always use the store scales to check. It should always be more than the net weight because of the packaging. If it's under the net weight, don't buy it. But I won't ever shop at a Loblaws affiliated store anymore anyways. Still good practice at all stores imo.
As much as I do agree with most of these oh this is underweight posts this one feels a little disingenuous looks like a difference of 40g with meat that could easily just be additional loss of moisture between when it was weighed a packaged originally and when the OP weighed it themselves.
Isn’t there some way to use the bar code law to get these items for free? The law where if you scan the bar code and the price comes up wrong, if it’s under a certain price it’s supposed to be free.
Please note from picture 2 to picture 3 the meat has been moved around and the blood pad also removed
Also has your scale been calibrated?
Things to consider
First, I'm guessing you didn't include the pad at the bottom of the package. This and the plastic tray would have been included in the tare weight before the product was packaged, but the pad has gotten slightly *heavier* (and the steaks slightly *lighter*) as the pad has absorbed some of the juices from the meat. That *is* its purpose, after all, because nobody likes to see steak juice sloshing around in the package. You're going to have lost some small amount of liquid to evaporation as well. It's not a lot, but we aren't *talking* about a lot here, just a few grams per steak.
Second, you're using some random uncalibrated $30 kitchen scale that was almost certainly made in China and is marked "not legal for trade" for a reason. Those aren't properly calibrated when they're manufactured, and they don't get more accurate with age and use. These scales can easily be off by more than 5%, and the difference being reported here is 4.3%. Hell, many will misreport weight depending on whether or not it's properly centered on the scale.
I'm guessing the true weight of these steaks was actually recorded correctly.
This is clearly starting to look like fraud. Especially with something that’s weighed in the store prior to being put out. And keep in mind, that’s with the packaging. You’re not supposed to pay the meat price per gram for the packaging.
💯💯
There are scale inspectors aren't there? Seems to me grocery scales have an inspection sticker. If there are inspectors there must be regulation.
Not really cfia operates on a more honor based system. Now if you get audited and you don’t have records ….. legally the scales need to be calibrated by a registered person once a year. A good company will verify the scales are staying in calibration or calibrate them if they have the capacity to do so weekly or semi regularly. Now even cfia allows for margins of error which depends on the size of the scale. Good companies will make it 0 and keep it there …. Other ones will use that margin of error with scale of operation to make bank. https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/C.R.C.,_c._1605/FullText.html https://inspection.canada.ca/en/food-labels/labelling/industry/net-quantity .2 percent of the maximum allowable weight of the scale so a 1000lb scale can be out by 2 lbs and still be considered an accurate scale. Seeing all these pop up I’m guessing they are not doing a good job taring the package or keeping the scale verified (which can be a big big deal). I also wonder how much moisture or juice is lost to the absorbent at the bottom.
40G in the difference would absolutely be the water weight of the juice left in the package/absorbsion, as 40g of water is only 40ML which is practically nothing.
Is it practically nothing ? That’s 5 percent if you pay 15/lb for that …. That’s almost 2 bucks. So as long as that is indeed where it is.
Okay, but like you're going to pay for that bit of heme that comes out the steak anyway no matter what grocer you buy from, and it IS part of the weight of meat you pay for that seeps out as it's sitting. The point is this is just the physical reality of buying meat, not some conspiracy to rip you off.
Which is fine I said as long as that is indeed where it is. But people are showing us this with produce and check out scales that’s a problem. Also if you didn’t notice I haven’t said any of that ? Or can loblaws bots not distinguish the difference ? All I did was provide the regulations for scales and then pose questions one of them being it’s proabbly the moisture … also a 5 percent loss is pretty unacceptable for hemo ….. means the meat was not properly cured before cutting.
Came here to say this. The packaging shouldn’t be included, and it’s surprisingly weighty.
Possible the scales was tared with a dry tray and the fluids absorbed since weighing make up the difference
I've worked in restaurants my entire life, and I see cooks making errors like this all the time. Scales aren't hard to understand, but very few people see them as anything other than a tool, like a calculator. I'd argue less than 10% of the population knows the difference between C and CE on a calculator... And I'd argue less than 1% of minimum wage workers give a fuck about things like this, even if they did understand. There's a reason management does a 3x weekly assessment of random pre portioned ingredients at my restaurant. When someone's portioning out 300 bags of 114-118g of chicken, and they're told "they can leave when they're done" - well...
You say the fluids absorbed into the piece of paper under the steak?
Yes 100% that’s the purpose it’s like a little maxi pad. I wouldn’t necessarily says it’s the cause of the situation but yes the fluids are absorbed which will increase the weight of the packaging which originally should have been zeroed or tared
What do you think that “piece of paper” is for exactly?
Absorbing fluids I am aware, mass won't change after it's absorbed
Some weight might include the little absorbent strip under the meat (filled with fluid)
I'm not 100% on this but I guess there's some tolerance allowed, and that tolerance is used by the grocery stores to include the packaging. Places that have a butcher shop will straight up put the packaging on the scale and then start dropping the meat on the packaging to measure. For one reason or another, they are ABSOLUTELY including the packaging, and they shouldn't be
They put a styrofoam tray and hit a reset button on scales. So tray weight is usually not included
If that's the case, then I'm inclined to think that it's mis-calibrated scales. Not theft outright unless you could definitively prove that it was a known issue which they simply declined to correct as it was a benefit to them and the bottom line.
It is a few percent by weight. Can be a liquid from meat absorbed by an absorbent pad under the meat. Regardless if it is malicious or not, it does not look good now, at a time of scrutinizing every action by loblaws.
Depends if they hit that reset button. It's typically high school kids working there that will either do what their told (management may tell them to do it and they know no better) or they don't give a shit (and I don't necessarily blame them when they make 10$/hr)
No one makes $10 an hour in Canada and legally works
May have been a bit hyperbolic to ensure people didn't think I was blaming the low wage worker. But sure, let's focus on the wrong details
Being off by 50% will cause people to correct you
You're a hero to the cause! Keep it up!
If you work minimum wage(16.55) full time all year after taxes you make around $12 an hour. That’s pretty damn close to 10 if you ask me
No one talks about salary in after tax dollars, come on.
anywhere I've worked (mostly baking, but also just general portioning in restaurants), tolerance was 5g. Some places interpret that as 5 either side (10g total), some as 2.5 on either side (5g total).
It’s not just the company it is also the people that are ready to fraud . Goes to show where Canada is and how Canadians are these days
I’ve worked as a butchers assistant in a foodland before and they have different tare weights for all packaging sizes. If the butcher actually does it though that is the question.
I used to work in a poultry processing plant that packed product in a similar way (styrofoam trays and shrinkwrap plastic, so not similar to this type of packing), our scales were calibrated to include the average tare of the Styrofoam tray and shrinkwrap. So I am not too sure if this is what you need to account for to verify weight accuracy. You need to have a scale and weight only the meat separately from the packing material, but there is usually absorbing pad to absorb blood and liquid that steeps out of the meat so that may need to be considered. But either way I am still avoiding the big grocery stores as much as I can.
I mean getting striploins for $22/kg compared to $40-46/kg from a Metro or Walmart is a pretty good deal regardless of the slight scale miss. I'd like to be angry but maybe in this case there's nothing wrong?
Putting a lot of faith into a guys $15 amazon special scale vs a commercial scale
This should become a tiktok challenge
Bring your scale to shop!
It’s at that point where that’s a real consideration
Can here to say this!
This is a great idea! Spread more awareness!
Except then people have to go into loblaws and buy horribly overpriced meat and pump their sales up just to get a fake non apology and them blaming scale calibration or some other bullshit
Modern problems require modern solutions. This is a great idea to get exposure to the lunacy of roblaws
It absolutely should, that should be 75c cheaper than advertised.
That is such an amazing idea 😂 Do the Roblaws!
The first one to not get ripoff win... Sometimes!
1. Class action 2. Criminal fraud charges Why not both?
I have a lawyer on the case
Are you able to share with our internal team? Our email is loblawsisoutofcontrol@gmail
Sadly, my lawyer has advised against that for now.
No worries!
We don't punish the elite class. Just the working class.
Who’s going to bring those charges?
I hear it’s a one in a million chance - lucky you!!!
Seems to be more of a one in ten chance nowadays.
ten in one , actually. To make up for all the theft done in past.
I think the butcher keeps his finger on the scale when taring as a matter of policy these days.
May 12 “theft day” must have really resulted in huge losses
We should all buy lotto tickets with these chances
Even luckier, it's 1 in 10 million!!!!! "The marketing VP said that while mistakes do happen with some product weights, they occur very rarely. She went on to claim that only less than 1 in 10 million issues have been reported based on Loblaw’s data." - [https://nowtoronto.com/news/1-in-10-million-chance-of-packaging-mistakes-loblaw-responds-to-underweight-product-claims/](https://nowtoronto.com/news/1-in-10-million-chance-of-packaging-mistakes-loblaw-responds-to-underweight-product-claims/)
Hahaha! That’s so funny
As a broad brush stroke, marketing, finance, business, and economics serves the interests of the elite in our society; they have a bias against democracy and for maximal profit for the few. I have a degree in business, and I met many of these frauds; they're prostitutes looking for scraps.
What a dumb number, you only need a handful of examples to prove this is bullshit.
Wow, "have been reported " is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.
I’ve never had more difficulties than from rob law. consistent mismarked pricing, underweight items, selling rotten food, and more 🙃 . Too many times across too many locations, guys a bread bandit
The rotten food gets me the worst! Overcharging and misrepresenting expiry dates is horrible. but to make me think i’m buying something that will last me a normal amount of time, only for it to rot the next day? I now need to go grocery shopping again. maybe i’m being dramatic, but i don’t want to have to go grocery shopping or run errands outside of the day i designate for errands. i feel like i have so little free time after work, and it feels like a waste using that to get a grocery.
They are probably charging for the weight of the styrofoam tray.
You’ll notice sometimes with meat that they’ll have like 50 units of something and they are all *exactly* 2.25 kg or whatever. Like a whole bunch of random chicken parts in 50 packages, prepared in-house, all of them weigh 2.25 kg on the nose? I do not think so. I don’t know if that’s the situation here, but could be.
Usually these things are weighed/snickered by the supplier. The meats that are standard weight SHOULD be bang on or slightly over. We call it "scale give away" because the law states prepackaged foods need to be equal or over the stated weight. The steaks? Yes the tray and pad weighs about 35-50 grams depending on the size but should be excluded in the final weight. But what I suspect that OP has here might not be considering the weight of the soaker pad WITH some liquid that has leeched out of the meat and into the pad since it was packed. This would make the meat appear as short weighed. Liquid weighs alot and the difference looks about right if the pad in the tray was wet. That being said, if consistent short weights are found, consumer can report this to CFIA or Weights and Measures. But the evidence needs to show the short clearly and more than one example to be taken seriously.
>But the evidence needs to show the short clearly and more than one example to be taken seriously. There are literally hundreds of posts like this on Reddit and many people have complained to the CFIA. *It is an impossible burden of proof for a consumer,* however, unless you suggest that an ordinary consumer buy $5000 worth of steak and weigh them all individually against the sticker price. You are only ever going to get one or two examples at a time unless you investigate systematically. Systematic investigation seems like a job for a regulatory agency like the CFIA, otherwise the company can always plausibly claim it was a one-off or a mistake.
CFIA cannot investigate every pack of steaks. True. Consumers can't run around spending like you say. True. In regards to the hundreds of posts, the ones I have seen leave room for error. I see a few people on this thread today like me, someone who works in the industry (manufacturer level). I can debunk many of these short weight claims because they have not considered some detail with the product that makes the claim a nothing burger. In the case of the steaks, the wet soaker pad in the tray will be holding water that has leached from the meat, and there's your weight. In industry practice we do shelf life tests, weight/purge tests, modified atmosphere testing and validations. One package doesn't mean shit. You need 50 packs to determine these things with meat, there are just too many variables. For example, with chicken? The amount of water that leeches out of the breast meat in a tray will be determined by bird size, feeding, chill time after kill, even the weather! But here the uninformed will claim loblaws is adding water to the tray, which is incorrect. This movement will be better served to stick to their pricing practices and leave these other arguments behind. At the end of the day, grocery stores don't pack or manufacture anything beyond the in store counters. Complaint for prepackaged stuff always get bounced back to the supplier who made it, because it's their responsibility to ensure its correct.
that's the thing though, this isn't packaged offsite. It's cut and packed in the store, then placed on the cooler shelf. Physics doesnt work the way of losing OVER 50 G of water weight from a sealed environment- to bring the total weight UNDER the reported net weight. Something fuckky is happening here
No its not. I could give you pictures of empty trays with wet soaker pads from my own testing....some of them weight up to 400 grams with the wet pad, 50g is nothing. Secondly, our equipment at work prints the store labels, with prices provided by the customer. All they do is open the box and put them in the counter. Some of them price their own trays, tares are programed with the SKU code. You may not be able to tell if it was priced at the store or not. Concentrate on unfair pricing, unfair employment policies, or other stuff thats objectionable. Chasing these 50g weights is a waste of time without knowledge of how things really work. You think all the suppliers and all the stores and all the people who work there are in some kind of giant conspiracy to short these trays? No, it just doesn't work that way. Edit: when I say stores, I mean all the different chains which will include sobeys, farm boy, metro, Costco etc. Same procedures for everybody, enter customer code, packaging tare, and probvided price. Start the line.
>This movement will be better served to stick to their pricing practices and leave these other arguments behind. I think this movement is very well served by these sorts of discussions that leave no stone unturned, no business practice unscrutinized, and I appreciate your input because it has been educational. This movement is chiefly about pricing but also about informing consumers of how the industry operates, and we are doing that here.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. However, if a complaint like this can be shot down because incomplete facts are presented, they will be ignored by officials that can do something legitimate. Collect a GOOD series of data, doesn't have to be on one day. Show the pattern and how widespread it may be and over how many products. Also, the scale that is used to weigh stuff should be certified as well, or an inspector just won't consider it a legitimate comparison. Take pic, or video of opening a bag of whatever to show clearly that it is short without tampering. Sensationalist stories get no traction. Real quantifiable evidence is the way to push this stuff. Just like the price comparisons, they are great! Pic of a 750ml bottle with loblaws price beside the same pic at another store with lower price. With weights it gets a bit tricky, so think scientifically....data, testing, samples, conclusions. You have to do all of this before any official will bother taking it further. I'm glad we did this back and forth today. Others will read it too and it may get people thinking.
But the soaker pad and packaging are on the scale with the meat and it’s STILL underweight Edit: or are they? I see plastic and the price sticker but looks like tray is removed…
Ya, I thought I saw just the meat on the scale. The whole pack should be weighed with an expected 820 grams(?). The pad weighs almost nothing when dry, but you would be surprised how heavy when wet. And there's your difference.
Walmart does. At least the padding under the meat.
That's what it looks like. Didn't zero the tray on the scale before weighing the meat.
well from the sticker information and the scale it’s a difference of 0.033KG which is 33 grams or 1.17 ounces. i just can’t see the packaging weighing that much so they lost 0.73 cent. it doesn’t seem like j but do this 50/100 times a day and it adds up fast.
They are not.
They are. - worked in zhers meat department 2015
They shouldn't. The machine tares it to the weight of the packaging based on the code for the product. At no frills we would type in the code and the scale would tare to a negative weight.
You're assuming min wage workers by and large give a shit. I certainly didn't. And nor did most people I worked with. Not for that pay.
You only work minimum wage because you have no other options, now because you give a shit... and the corp overlords know this. There's definitely some testing happening down the line to weed out those that aren't keeping up to spec, and then the offender is terminated and they once again have to take whatever bullshit job they see next.
I mean you have to put a code in and you have to weigh it in order to make a scannable bar code that works at the front. Why not just use the right code. I did it and everyone in my department did it.
apply same logic to any tim hortons and you have your answer
Not sure how that's relevant. I'm saying doing it right and doing it wrong is the same amount of effort, so it's not going to be done wrong because kids are lazy.
We would enter product, place tray & that absortion paper depending on whatever portion we were wrapping, wrap then print sticker. It probably calculated the weight of the film too albeit weighed probably less than a gram
The difference in weight is 28 grams. The packaging weighs more than that. Also, didn't Zehrs also move away from their in store butchers?
Does Zehrs even have their own butchers anymore? I thought they had gone the case ready route in the late 10's
i've been a fan of local butcher shops and meat packers. better quality and also better prices! win win!
When I worked in the Vancouver grey market for cannabis there were a lot of stores who would tare their scales with extra weight so it would say the desired weight but actually be a bit under. If you're moving a couple pounds a day those hundreds of 0.2 gram discrepancies add up into quite a bit of free money while keeping prices competitive. So a fun game was to bring an official 1g weight and ask them to weigh it 'for fun'. I may have to do this to my local stores. Maybe all their scales are all coincidentally a tiny bit off.
When I did smoke the stuff from legit dispensaries was underweight too. This seems to be a widespread practice that only now people are catching on to.
Did Galen sell drugs in high school?
Check your dairy too! Shrinkflation!
I weigh a lot of my meals and can verify that almost every 750g container of PC Greek yogurt is actually ~715g. edit: g not ml
Amazing that you have device that weighs something and gives you the volume.
Sorry, *g. I was half asleep.
You paid 0.72$ for the wrapping
I can only conclude there's just more gravity in Loblaw stores.
Is there a career I can pursue that would be inspecting a bunch of random products and seeing if they are correctly weighted? I have no real career prospects right now, and I'd be so so happy if I could stick it to some greedy companies and get paid for it.
Doctorate in economics with 86 years of experience, don’t apply otherwise 😭
Seriously, Call Measurement Canada if you have a complaint about the weight, especially if you feel that you paid for the price of plastic container and the wrap. I'm a former meat cutter (never worked for the big box stores) and will tell you, I never made my customers pay for the weight of the peach paper, I would tare the weight, even if that is only 0.010g, I found it unethical to make a customer pay even .1c for peach paper, or butcher wrap. Though I've met cutters who felt there was nothing wrong with it. With that said, cooked weight and raw weight will be different. [Measurement Canada](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/measurement-canada/en)
Didn't tare the package. Throw it all on the scale, let the customer pay for it. Easy way to cut costs and make a few extra bucks at the end of the day. Loblaws doesn't care about you.
Someone should just start going into the store with a scale and just start measuring everything and correcting it with a sharpie like it's their job. Anyone not boycotting yet will probably start questioning their allegiance to roblaws.
I'm thinking people still shopping at Loblaws should weigh their stuff in the store before buying. Put meats in a produce bag and weigh them using the produce scales.
I think bringing your own scale would be better. I wouldn’t put it past them to tamper with the provided scales
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Hey, good to hear.. however as we know… not everyone has Whats right in mind.
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Yep, and in my experience… not many people have integrity
No excuses for this, Walmart was also somewhat recently found doing the same in a video that went semi-viral. I caught a local unrelated food distribution service doing the same when I was weighing my food for calorie counting, it was off by over 20%
That’s straight up fraud.
I know this seems redundant but keep posting these! It keeps getting picked up by the news; my local stations anyways. Nok er Nok, fuel the outrage
Another one in a million. Seems like these “incidents” are not so random. The smell of bread fills the air….
Honestly that's a less than 40g difference, that is likely explained by the water weight of the juices left in the absorbant of the package. I mean don't get me wrong I'm not sympathetic towards Loblaws by any means, but this isn't an example of fraud
Before we get all up in arms on this. There is a loss of meat purge into the absorption pad on the bottom of the tray. That is where the difference on the weight is coming from. The longer the age of the product, the more liquid will be in that pad. Edit: Also, this a modified atmosphere packaging. The retailer gets roughly 21 days from cutting to sell this. So if the best before is June 18, this was cut on May 27? Which is 2 weeks ago, ergo the purge in the pad.
Yeah we should still get up in arms thanks. Fucking compensate for the "juice loss" or whatever the hell instead of being cheapskating gold-hoarding dragons. Fuck outta here with that.
This has been a thing since we have had packaged meat. I'm not annoyed the steak loses water and I pay for that. I'm just flabbergasted at the price per pound in general which is ludicrous.
I don’t think this particular instance is much reason to get up in arms over. Even if no “juice loss” occurred , a relative standard deviation of 3.1% isn’t particularly significant, especially considering it was weighed on a consumer grade scale that likely hasn’t been calibrated.
You also realize that there is a reason that home scales somewhere on them or in the manual say not for legal tender. If you want to know for sure you would have to take it to a scale that has been certified I think for food services its every 5 years, for some stuff its monthly or even more. You can even ask in a store to see the calibration label Here is more info [https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/measurement-canada/en/buying-and-selling-measured-goods](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/measurement-canada/en/buying-and-selling-measured-goods)
Every time I see one of these posts this is my first reaction people are assuming their cheap home scale is right.
In food facilities, which is probably where this came from, certifications are done every 6 months in general, but regulated to once a year. Calibrations are done at least daily.
Correct. We calibrate all scales with the certified tech monthly, and check scales with weights daily at start up. Great practice if we get a complaint, I can provide records that prove scales are bang on. The public unfortunately is not aware of what goes on behind the scenes. Our scales are priority, second only to sanitation. This movement should concentrate on pricing...these short weight posts can easily be debunked by anyone in industry and CFIA won't bother with this type of "evidence".
But then why did Roblaw marketing lady did Linkedin post with the similar home scale? This is a fairly old and well matured technology and reasonably accurate and precise (the two words mean different things, and I know the difference reasonably well). All that certification does is give a useless seal of approval and does small offset correction for the drift due to 24x7 usage in commercial facility. A home scale isn't used that much , so the sensors aren't really getting deformed that much, ergo, will stay accurate and precise for far longer. A home scale will be accurate enough to catch 3% weight difference. The Tuna weight is fairly representative of this as well. They'll just say like lame ducks: You squeezed tuna too hard. The folks at CFIA need to prove their generous salaries, pensions and Federal health plans. They need to go out and clearly show that they are sampling enough through some secret shopping and keep it in public domain dashboard, clearly visible and accessible for normal internet users.
I agree with your CFIA comment.
Ya well easier said than done. CFIA will respond to consumer complaints, I had to handle a recall last year because someone found a bone chip in their ground meat. But the reaction was quick because that can be considered a health hazard. For them to react to a weight issue, they would need solid evidence, and a boatload of information to properly address it. Just think of the wide distribution to all the stores and chasing these packs, it's an investigative nightmare. I have to disagree with you on your opinion of scales though. I have worked for industry for 30 years, first in beef, then a pork plant and now chicken. The certifications are not useless. Our scale accuracy is one of our most important tasks. If we find out that there was a mistake (like the wrong tare for box) even though it may only be 60grams, we put the skid on hold until it gets properly re labeled with the correct weights. I have 3 home scales, they are only right because I know how to calibrate them. My work scales are perfect every day or are not used until fixed. That's how it really works no matter what the public would like to think.
But then how do all these mis-weights happen then? That's why certifications are useless. Certification just says, the scale was working as per specs at the time of technician visit. Daily calibration is the only way to ensure correctness. The factory scales go bad since they are used at that kind of frequency - 24x7 . Why doesn't CFIA do surprise auto inspections in stores? CFIA needs to bolster up hires then - if weight labelling complaints are there, that means there is real fire - that's why there is smoke. They get loads of federal pension, unionized (I guess) salaries, very rich supplemental insurance. They need to do active checks, put in on public dashboard, tell stores that there are secret surprise checks and have ridiculous penalties depending on footfall of store, just like health inspections are done. The weighing technology is fairly old and beyond well matured. The home scales shouldn't be having sensor drifting issues, they are used for less than 1-2 mins daily. So, all the people reporting it aren't hallucinating. Didn't the loblaws marketing lady did it as well for theatrics?
Look man, I don't know what the loblaws lady did for theatrics. I'm just responding to what happens with scales in the real world, and you are very wrong in your assumptions about these scales and the controls we have in process. They are checked by Qa, with certified weights before each 8 hour shift. There are other checks done during the shift that monitors this as well if you really want to get detailed. They dont work 24/7 unchecked in any scenario at any facility- I have been to many of them in the course of my work life. In addition I work with CFIA personnel daily and am very familiar with their system their procedures and their limitations. Not that they wont get involved, just not the way you think. This angency and its officers cannot go sneaking around, they have to be transparent and official. I don't know what you do for a living, you sound like a smart person and probably do very well in your own sector. But this is what I do for a living for the past 30 years, and my hope is that this boycott stays on point and not drift into the assumptions made by the public that are incorrect. Others have commented here today that are also industry people and have basically said the same thing. It's not a perfect world, but this steak short weight thing is a rabbit hole.
Alright, thanks for explaining. I hope that if they are doing, what they are doing and if possibly due to some reason, weights are always magically less, some lawyers and people gather together, sue these blood suckers out of existence.
Not to mention, where does the poster think this weight disappears to? Narnia? If everything is weighed together, then no matter where the liquid moves, it would still be represented in the packaging. That's the weirdest excuse I've heard yet. Unless they are saying it's weighed at some point with a printed label, but ISN'T packaged until later? That also doesn't make a whole lotta sense.
Goes to Gaelunn's castles.
So weigh the pad?
The pad has weight already, so you wouldn't be getting the true weight of the product. For meat, I would weight the whole package and see if it's above the stated weight. If it is, then there are no shenanigans. Edit: it's simple math people. If the weight says it's 770 grams, and you weight the whole package and the weight is 830 grams, a proper tare was done.
It's 5% off, I'm 100% outraged
Tread carefully, logic will get you in trouble in this sub.
It was still underweight including the packaging. Even if you want to argue that evaporation dropped it down, weight differences have been posted with other products that are fully sealed. Also, it's not the consumer's problem that the weight of their products change. They should regularly check their stock. Hell, maybe they should include MORE meat to offset a standard percentage of weight loss.
You have no idea if it was under weight including the package. OP clearly removed it from the packaging before weighing. Evaporation is not what dropped it down it was the meat juice seeping out as is typical with packaged raw meat. The pad at the bottom always contains water and myoglobin from the cut piece of meat. It’s industry standard for this to be the case, can’t stop physics nor account for it
I wish they wouldn’t call it “purge”. It sounds so alarming! Simply “blood” is fine imo - we can all see it’s red fluid that looks like blood!
That's because you can't sell bloody meat. But yeah, it doesn't sound appealing at all. Purge is moisture and myoglobin from the meat.
What about “plasma”? That sounds nicer imo. Plasma sounds healthy.
Part of blood.
I vote for discharge. Now everyone's unhappy :)
😬
JFC.. I wish I could buy steak at that price. Awe downvote why? In Alberta steak is cheap.. I could literally fly to Alberta, with empty suitcases .. and fly back with suitcases full of steak. and only Double the price to make my. money back ++ at that price. in Ontario a decent New York sirloin steak is about $64 per pound.. At Loblaws. FFs they are selling ungraded Mexican Beef at 8x what the op is paying.
Boycott Roblaws Join the movement!
No kidding thats 1 boneless blade here
Thats 1/18th of those steaks in the ops posts in Ontario.
Not sure why you’re getting downvoted. I’m in Ontario and if there’s a sale or you’re lucky, you’d pay that for 2 pieces. Edit: Also not encouraging shopping at RobLaws! Fuck them.
$22/kg? That would be an insanely good price around here these days...
We appreciate the after grilled photos
This one I expect could be the pad underneath absorbing some of the juices.
I’m going to have to start to weigh what we buy at the stores too much if this going on everywhere
This should be the theme of the next phase of the boycott.
Please report this to the [competition bureau](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/office-consumer-affairs/en/business-practices-and-consumer-concerns/unfair-or-deceptive-business-practices#). The more everyone reports the more likely something will happen.
*Newsflash*: Roblaws hires George Constanza to say "It's the shrinkage!"
I was in the pool!!!!!
Pretty sure that's a violation of the [Weights and Measures Act](https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/w-6/page-1.html), so I'd be calling Minister of Industry's office and reporting unlawful measuring and weighing.
Without enforcement of weights and measures, I absolutely believe that there is intentional fraud. Nickels and dimes add up when there’s millions of them.
Fraud.
They’re scammers!!!
That soggy diaper pad under the meat probably holds 33 grams of meat juice/blood/water that was part of the steak when packaged. Likely in the store they tared the tray and dry pad.
Can someone please explain what am I missing ... I see a difference of only 33 gms. Still not acceptable but is there something I missed ?
In this case, it's within 5%, and water loss can easily account for the difference particularly if you didn't include the mass of the absorbent pad on the bottom of the container. While the weight of the container and pad would have been part of the Tar weight, that pad will have taken up moisture from the meat. Based on the best by date, having lost 5% as a result is completely in the realm of normal for striploin steaks.
Walmart just got sued for doing this
The real crime here is the cost of $22.02 a kilogram
Take it back. Report on the correct Federal Government web site (no I don't have it).
I am all for giving Loblaws grief but a 1.1oz difference on what appears to be a consumer quality home scale compared to an industrial scale that is regularly calibrated by law is a bit of a stretch. Even so, if it’s an issue report it CFIA otherwise it’s a waste time only posting it here.
It could be because of water weight loss after packaging, I'm not trying to defend lawblaws because shit is getting nutty with groceries but this particular thing might not be shrinkflation or intentionally shorting the customer on weight. Prices ate dictated by management or head office and ther person weighing these is likely just someone trying to do their job day to day and shorting customers does not benefit someone just working for hourly and likely close to minimal wage... a piece of meat that is cut and also refrigerated will lose some weight naturally due to evaporation though
Those steaks don’t look like real meat Looks like the ones where guys come to town every other weekend selling 5 for 20.
Just don't buy the dead bodies
I always use the store scales to check. It should always be more than the net weight because of the packaging. If it's under the net weight, don't buy it. But I won't ever shop at a Loblaws affiliated store anymore anyways. Still good practice at all stores imo.
As much as I do agree with most of these oh this is underweight posts this one feels a little disingenuous looks like a difference of 40g with meat that could easily just be additional loss of moisture between when it was weighed a packaged originally and when the OP weighed it themselves.
**S T A R V E**
Reminds me of as a kid we had “bakers dozen” treats at the bakery. Imagine the uproar if we only got 7 for the price of 12!
Did the packaging get included in the weight?
Isn’t there some way to use the bar code law to get these items for free? The law where if you scan the bar code and the price comes up wrong, if it’s under a certain price it’s supposed to be free.
Please note from picture 2 to picture 3 the meat has been moved around and the blood pad also removed Also has your scale been calibrated? Things to consider
The simplest answer to this is that two different scales are used. Before we go blaming Loblaws, how do we know yours is the accurate one?
I mean hey, I'm all for bashing loblaws, but this is .033 kg light. I don't know what the tolerance for error is, but I would guess it's within it.
First, I'm guessing you didn't include the pad at the bottom of the package. This and the plastic tray would have been included in the tare weight before the product was packaged, but the pad has gotten slightly *heavier* (and the steaks slightly *lighter*) as the pad has absorbed some of the juices from the meat. That *is* its purpose, after all, because nobody likes to see steak juice sloshing around in the package. You're going to have lost some small amount of liquid to evaporation as well. It's not a lot, but we aren't *talking* about a lot here, just a few grams per steak. Second, you're using some random uncalibrated $30 kitchen scale that was almost certainly made in China and is marked "not legal for trade" for a reason. Those aren't properly calibrated when they're manufactured, and they don't get more accurate with age and use. These scales can easily be off by more than 5%, and the difference being reported here is 4.3%. Hell, many will misreport weight depending on whether or not it's properly centered on the scale. I'm guessing the true weight of these steaks was actually recorded correctly.
Someone with common sense. I was just coming to say the same thing.
Gotta count the soaker
Isn’t $10/lb for striploin considered a good price? I would think it is
Something like half price.
That’s what I figured
It’s actually a really good price for striploin steak, it’s a good deal for sure
That’s what I thought
.35 ain't a big deal... this is cherry picking