With the Mid-Autumn Festival and a four day holiday, it is expected that supermarkets, fruit retailers and traditional markets will be packed with crowds shopping for fresh meat and vegetables for barbecue.
To ensure consumer rights, the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI) conducted an ad-hoc inspection on scales ahead of the holiday. Inspectors visited 292 facilities and checked 8,062 scales, of which 8,042 were up to the standards 19 failed to the standards. With a conformity rate of 99.8%, consumers can feel ease during shopping for the holiday .
Scales used to weigh fresh produce is the focal point of this ad-hoc inspection. Inspector visited 89 fruit retailers, 116 supermarkets and 87 traditional markets nationwide and found 19 substandard scales, of which 7 exceeded the negative maximum permissible error of inspection (work to the advantage of consumers), 8 exceeded the positive maximum permissible error of inspection (work to the disadvantage of consumers) and 4 came without a verification conformity sticker. Markings of "Stopping use" have been attached to substandard scales and the bureau will make sure that they will not be used any more.
BSMI Director General Liou Ming-Jong said that inspectors visit markets before major traditional holidays every year to check if scales are up to standard. Recent inspection results show that the average conformity rate is 99% and that scales used by most vendors are accurate. The bureau will continue to inspect scales to ensure fair trade. Consumers can file a complaint with the bureau (02-28348456) or its branches should they discover a scale that come without a verification conformity sticker (with a Chinese character on it) or should they doubt tampering.
Agency in charge: Verification, Inspection of Weights & Measuring Instruments Division (7th Division)
Contact person: Mr. Lin Ching-Hsien
Telephone: (02)2831-6092