You may be seeing this sign very close to you right now. When you learn the meaning of the “℮” sign, which resembles a logo, right next to the “net amount” on the packages, you will leave here with a significant amount of information.
According to the regulation, on prepackaged foodstuffs “net amount of food” notification is mandatory.
Next to this net amount “℮” sign is written to indicate that the average net weight system applied in the European Union and our country is used.
Well, isn’t it a contradiction to both write the net amount and state that this amount is an estimate?
Net amount, as you know, refers to the part excluding the package weight. In other words, the weight written is actually the weight of the food in the package. It does not express the exact amount.
Because when filling in factories there is a margin of error; machines may not fill the correct amount or the density of fruit particles in the food may cause slight differences. So even though the volume is the same, the weight can be different. Therefore, minor variations are allowed. use this sign not mandatory however, it is obligatory to comply with the provisions.
So what margin of error is allowed in what quantities?
Filling quantity of prepackaged products allowed the underfill amount is as indicated in the table.
In the regulation, “There cannot be more than twice the negative tolerance allowed or underfilled product in the table. No prepackage with negative error more than twice the negative error allowed in the table cannot bear the ‘℮’ sign, and cannot be placed on the market.” is called.
Underfilling allowed in some weight ranges, by percentage of nominal filling; in some weight ranges with numerical quantity (grams or milliliters) tolerance is given.
Numerical tolerance example: A product you think is 250 grams may actually be 241 grams!
Suppose you buy a 250 gram chocolate, which corresponds to the 200-300 gram filling range in the table, ie the allowable underfill It is 9 grams. There is no problem in chocolate being 241 grams. If chocolate was 290 grams, a tolerance of 9 grams would still be recognized.
An example using a percentage of nominal fill:
Since the net amount of this olive oil is 2000 ml, it corresponds to the 1000-10000 range in the table. For this reason, 1.5% of the nominal fill is recognized as the tolerance amount. 1.5% of 2000 ml makes 30 ml. In other words, a food product that you think is 2000 ml may actually be 1970 ml. As the percentage increases the amount will increase.
Could companies abuse this tolerance and put incomplete products?
It is not possible to say anything definite about this. It can be weighed and checked extra at home, but since the amounts are small It won’t be worth the trouble.
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