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Company fined over 'short' bread Company fined over 'short' bread
(about 8 hours later)
Portadown-based bakery, W D Irwin and Sons Ltd, has been fined £1,500 for selling underweight bread. Portadown bakery Irwin's has been fined £1,500 for selling underweight bread.
The County Armagh company pleaded guilty to ten charges under the Weights & Measures Order 1981 at Craigavon Magistrates Court on Monday. It follows an inspection from the Trading Standards Service which found that 38 out of 51 loaves from two lines contained less than the marked weight.
It follows a case brought by the Trading Standards Service of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment Inspectors found no checks had been made to ensure the weights of the particular products were correct.
It resulted from a routine inspection in a number of supermarkets in April. Irwin's said they were making a new bread which "unfortunately incurred more weight loss than was expected" during the baking process.
A Trading Standards officer discovered that 38 out of 51 loaves from two lines contained less than the 600g marked weight, and in some cases the deficiency was more than 10%. "We take this incident extremely seriously and would like to reassure consumers that we have taken rigorous steps to ensure this problem does not occur again," said Michael Murphy, Irwin's commercial controller.
A follow-up visit to the bakery revealed that no checks had been made to ensure the weights of the particular batches of loaves were correct. "We have increased the weight of ingredients for the specific products, which will, in fact, mean that they will now exceed the required product weight."
"Consumers are entitled to expect that the bread they buy weighs as stated on the packaging," said Trading Standards Area Inspector Bill Malloy. Trading Standards inspector Bill Malloy said consumers were entitled to expect that the bread they buy weighs what is stated on the packaging.
"Bakeries have an obligation to ensure that the weight of loaves meets the minimum weight standards laid down, and should have measures in place to check this. "Bakeries have an obligation to ensure that the weight of loaves meets the minimum weight standards laid down, and should have measures in place to check this," he said.
"With the increasing price of many foods, it is more important than ever that consumers are sold the amount stated on the packaging of products.""With the increasing price of many foods, it is more important than ever that consumers are sold the amount stated on the packaging of products."