'How is this okay?': Shoppers spot little-known detail on supermarket products

It shows how they get away with charging you more for less. 😠

Have you ever wondered what the 'e' symbol on supermarket products actually means?

 

Have you even noticed it before?! I sure haven't. 

Shoppers are just finding out about it and it's safe to say, it explains A LOT. Specifically, how supermarkets can get away with charging you more for less. 

Taking to a Facebook group, a Canberra woman shared how she came to discover its true meaning after purchasing a packet of chips from ALDI recently and deciding to run a little experiment. 

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Image: Facebook

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"How is this okay at all?"

She was shocked to discover that after she weighed the 230g packet, there were only 139g of chips inside.

"How is this okay at all?" the mum asked the group. "[We] try to save money by buying from ALDI, but we don't even get the amount on the packet!"

"More than two-thirds of the packet was air - hence why I decided to check it... I put the whole bag with chips in it on the scales first and it was 157g," she explained.

Then, once she took them out of the packet, they weighed 139g. 

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The hidden symbol on food packaging

While many commenters were outraged, one Aussie pointed out that the 'e' sign on a food label indicates the volume or weight of the product is an average value.

However, according to the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, the Average Quantity System (AQS) shouldn't have this much of a discrepancy. 

The website reads: "The AQS is an internationally agreed method of determining the size or quantity of pre-packed articles with a ‘constant nominal content’. This means it provides confirmation of the measurement or quantity of goods in the package, being sold by measure (weight, volume, length, area or number)."

It then states that "no pre-packaged article can have a shortfall greater than 5% of the stated quantity."

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"Not getting what you pay for is a joke"

And this discrepancy wasn't lost on the group members, who pointed it out in the comments. 

"That isn't an estimation, though. Even Woolies mince has the 'e' and usually it's minimal difference - but nearly 100g is massive!" one wrote.

Another added: "Not getting what you pay for is a joke and being so far off the 'e' weight is just ridiculous," another wrote.

Meanwhile, a former Woolworths employee said that they regularly checked the weights of certain items using scales.

"You'd be surprised how often they're out. In saying that, anything over 10 per cent was reported," they revealed.

Kidpot has reached out to ALDI for comment. 

Originally published as 'How is this okay?': Shoppers spot little-known detail on supermarket products