With Christmas just a few weeks away I’m sure you, like my family, might already be thinking about Christmas Day plans.
Christmas can be a difficult time of year at the best of times, but this has been an unprecedentedly tough year for Australian families. I know there has been a huge strain on many families’ budgets due to COVID-19.
The Federal Government wants to make sure that you and your families are getting what you pay for when buying food this Christmas … and not being taken advantage of by rip-off-merchants doing the wrong thing by you.
Whether it’s a ham or turkey, cherries or chicken, seafood or sausages – if you’ve paid for a kilo, you expect to receive a full kilo.
Most retailers do the right thing – there are so many fantastic local retailers here in Logan.
But we are determined to weed out those who are blatantly ripping people off. This blitz will see inspectors from the National Measurement Institute (NMI) audit over 450 businesses across the country over the next fortnight.
The audit will target our major supermarkets, as well as butchers, fresh fish and chicken shops that have been previously caught doing the wrong thing.
Inspectors will be making ‘secret shopper’ purchases to check packaged goods to confirm they have the required measurement labels and contain the right amount of product.
Scales will be checked to make sure they are approved for trade use and are measuring accurately.
Where businesses do the wrong thing … the NMI can issue fines of $1,110 per offence.
If the case is serious enough for a prosecution, the maximum fines are $222,000 per offence for a company or $44,400 per offence for an individual.
