Sham
Sham packaging is colloquially known as packaging for a consumer product that conceals the real amount or nature of the content. In a figurative sense, the term is used for an offer that hides less or different than it appears.
Legal bases
The requirements for prepackages are regulated in Section 43 of the Measurement and Verification Act. Pre-packs must be designed and filled in such a way that they “do not simulate a larger quantity than is contained in them”. If a larger filling quantity is faked, one can speak of a sham packaging. The prepackaging ordinance contains details on how to measure the content.
For reasons of consumer protection , packaging is not permitted if the filling quantity of an opaque pre-packaged packaging differs from the capacity of the container by more than 30% - in other words: if the packaging contains around a third of air. This does not apply to cases where the deviation is product-related or technically unavoidable.
More frequent and often more serious for the consumer than the actual deceptive packaging are now deceptive labels that conceal the true nature of a product .
Cases of sham packaging
In May 2011, the Hamburg consumer center examined 30 products together with the calibration department North in Hamburg. 23 products contained more than 30% air in the packaging. The biggest sham packs were Take 2 Lolly (90% air), Fisherman's Friend (88%), "Curry" rice balls from Maggi (75%), tuna steaks from Edeka (65%), Eduscho Gala No. 1 coffee pods (63%), Sage sweets with vitamin C from Dallmann & Co. (63%), Milky Way Minis (61%), M & M’s (61%) and penne with broccoli from Knorr (60%). Administrative offense proceedings were initiated by the calibration directorate.
Since 2013, the association has been giving the negative “sham pack of the month” prize. In the process, hidden price increases associated with the reduction in the number of packs are primarily uncovered. At the beginning of the year, consumers can also choose the “sham package of the year”. In 2014, Procter & Gamble's Pampers Baby-Dry diapers received 29.3% of consumer votes. The number of diapers per pack has been reduced five times in eight years, from the original 47 to the latest 31 (as of 2014). In 2015 the product bebe Zartcreme from Johnson & Johnson was chosen as the winner with a result of 32.6%. In 2015, the filling quantity was reduced for three different pack sizes. However, the can size remained the same in two cases. In addition, the preservative phenoxyethanol has been added. 2016 voted 38.3% for the mineral water Evian from Danone Waters. The filling volume of the bottle was reduced from 1.5 to 1.25 liters in April 2016, while the price of the mineral water was increased at the same time. In 2017, 36.5% voted for the Vitalis fruit muesli from Dr. Oetker receives the negative award. Dr. According to the consumer advocates, Oetker had reduced the filling quantity from 600 to 500 grams, but the price remained the same. In 2018, 58.7% voted for the chips from Lorenz Snack-World . The contents of the can shrank from 170 to 100 grams for the same price. In 2019, 36.6% awarded the negative award to Mirácoli from Mars . There is no more cheese in the pack, less tomato sauce and seasoning mix, but the price has remained the same.
Austria
There is no comparable regulation in Austria. - Manufacturers are basically free to decide in which quantities they offer their goods. For many consumers, the mismatch between large packaging and small contents is a nuisance. Many turn to the Association for Consumer Information (VKI) on this matter. The VKI regularly publishes examples of sham packaging in the "Food Check" section. The Vorarlberg Chamber of Labor also addresses sham packaging - with the help of consumers - and publishes information on this topic.
United States
In the USA, sham packs (referred to there as "slack fill", ie roughly "loose filling ") are the subject of numerous and (as of 2019) increasing class actions against food manufacturers, often by lawyers specializing in this area. In some cases this is also being prosecuted by District Attorneys (local public prosecutors), for example in 2019 the chocolate manufacturers Ghirardelli and Russell Stover, which belong to Lindt & Sprüngli, paid a fine of 750,000 US dollars for "mostly empty" packaging.
See also
Web links
- The biggest sham packs: Even more air with little content - page with the Kassensturz reporting office (TV broadcast)
- Court judgment of the Frankfurt aM district court
- Deceptive packaging: Deceptive packaging list with hidden price increases (list from the Hamburg consumer center) ; PDF file, 7.1 MB, accessed March 19, 2020
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Hamburg Consumer Center, A lot of air in bags - X-ray vision in food packaging , May 5, 2011
- ↑ a b Consumer Center Hamburg, The largest air packs of the study , May 2011 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ More and more hidden price increases. In: help.orf.at. March 30, 2013, accessed March 30, 2013 .
- ↑ Packaging trouble with sham packages . Status: February 2013, accessed on April 13, 2017
- ↑ Food check sham packs . Status: April 2017, accessed on April 13, 2017
- ↑ Vorarlberg Chamber of Labor - Mogelpackungen ( Memento of the original from July 17, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Status: April 2017, accessed on April 13, 2017
- ↑ Kaitlyn Tiffany: Half-empty boxes of Milk Duds, underfilled Halo Top: people keep suing over "slack fill" in food. Vox , July 31, 2019, accessed August 11, 2019 .
- ^ Jared Gilmour: Ghirardelli, Russell Stover to pay $ 750,000 over air-filled chocolate packages. In: The Sacramento Bee . January 29, 2019, accessed August 11, 2019 .
