Underweight in a restaurant: how to return the ordered grams to the plate? What to do if the dish is underweighed? Forgot about the scales.

I wouldn't have thought of this myself. But colleagues from "KP - Nizhny Novgorod" prompted. It turns out that manufacturers of packaged products are cheating like cheap fraers, not filling bags with buckwheat, sugar, rice, and so on. Let's say 1 kilogram is written on a pack, but in reality it weighs 900 grams. It seems not critical, but, you see, unpleasant. 10 deceived customers - and the owner of the store takes the cost of the whole pack. Can you imagine what kind of money it is? Considering the scale of our supermarkets. And we are talking not only about rice, buckwheat, flour, but also about packaged vegetables, fruits, pasta, milk. In general, I could not stand it and, having hidden the revolutionary banner in my backpack, went on reconnaissance.

FORGET ABOUT SCALES

The first store I went to is My Auchan on Tverskaya. It opened in August last year, literally a stone's throw from the State Duma. The people are dark. Especially tourists. And everyone pushes each other, they apologize, because there is not enough space, despite the two floors. To begin with, I took four packaged bags - buckwheat (unground kernel), wheat flour, a half-bagel cone (pasta, in our opinion) and rice (long-grain). And he went with them to look for control scales. Not on the first floor, not on the second. I go to the seller. He thought I was a teapot and sent me to the cash register. Like, there your buckwheat will be weighed. But I know that the control scales should stand separately. They called the administrator. And she admitted that they simply forgot to put them.

I paid and went to another store. Buy scales.

As it turned out, Auchan sellers have nothing to be ashamed of. For those bags that I bought, only flour is underweight. And that - only 2 grams! And for buckwheat, rice and pasta, on the contrary, the advantage is from 4 to 30 grams. Well, where, you ask, is the deception?

LET'S GO LOOKING FOR A POTATO

Attempt number two. Perekrestok store on Yasnogorskaya street (southwest of Moscow). I put the scales in a storage box (without fawn, as they say) and proceeded to the display cases. I took vacuum-packed sausages (how do you know if the weight indicated on the barcode corresponds to the real one?), Another pack of flour, a grid of potatoes and three lemons (firstly, because the throat was seized, and secondly, to double-check the store scales , those on which buyers weigh vegetables and fruits).

In "Crossroads" control scales were available. And they are standing next to the last box office. The sales assistant, seeing me weighing a pack of flour, looked at me as if I were the last stingy. But I steadfastly withstood her views and hastened to record the results. Lemons - gram for gram, flour - too, sausage - underweight 4 grams. But underweight potatoes - 112 grams! This is too much. It's a whole potato, after all. And if you consider that I buy potatoes once a month, then this is 12 potatoes a year. A decent pot of borscht. My scales showed the same...

The salespeople told me that few people use the control scales in their store. Mostly pensioners. And they weigh only fruits and vegetables, but not packaged products.

WHERE DO I HAVE SO MANY PASTA

On Novoyasenevsky Prospekt I choose another chain supermarket "I'm loved". Probably the quietest of the three. The area is big, there are not many people. The product was chosen at random. Breadcrumbs, rice, sugar, buckwheat, pasta... The administrator was not at all surprised when he saw how I dumped all this on the control scales. How many minnows walks.

The results are not the most stunning. The underweight of rice is 5 grams. The underweight of buckwheat is 10 grams. But with pasta, the advantage is as much as 20 grams! So it turns out that I don’t eat enough rice with buckwheat, but I got pasta for free. There are no problems with crackers and sugar - in both cases, the excess is 2 grams.

SPECIFICALLY

How much they do not fill up in packs (according to the results of the experiment)

Wheat flour - 2 grams

Shebekinsky pasta - 2 grams

Rice - 5 grams

Buckwheat - 10 grams

Potatoes for cooking - 112 grams

SCALE OF THE DISASTER

So let's do a simple calculation. In an 800-gram pack of buckwheat, we found a 10-gram underweight. Truck capacity - 20 thousand kg. This is 25 thousand packs. If you subtract 10 grams from each, you get 25 "left" kg. 1 kg of buckwheat costs 35 rubles, it turns out that the manufacturer earns 875 rubles on one truck due to underweight.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has developed permissible errors in the weight and volume of goods sold.

Unscrupulous sellers and manufacturers in the future will have to be wary of meticulous consumers. If such a buyer notices that the weight of the goods he purchased differs from the declared one by more than 10 grams, he may demand that the entrepreneur be fined.

What kind of error in the weight and volume of goods sold should be considered a consumer fraud is prescribed in the order of the Ministry of Industry and Trade “On approval of the list of measurements related to the sphere of state regulation of ensuring the uniformity of measurements and carried out in the course of trade, the performance of work on packaging goods and mandatory metrological requirements for them, including indicators of measurement accuracy”. The document is currently undergoing the stage of public discussion and is available on the Unified Information Portal.

Officials propose to approve the following "standards" for weighing and measuring customers:

• no more than 1 g (0.3 ml) - for goods weighing up to 100 g (ml);
• no more than 2 g (0.6 ml) - for goods weighing from 100 to 500 g (ml);
• no more than 5 g (1.6 ml) - for goods weighing from 0.5 to 2 kg (l);
• no more than 10 g (3.3 ml) - for goods weighing from 2 to 10 kg (l).

If the key characteristic of the product is the linear size, then the permissible errors in its implementation are as follows:

• up to 0.1 mm - for goods up to 0.3 m long;
• up to 0.15 mm - for goods with a length of 0.3-0.5 m;
• up to 0.2 mm - for goods with a length of 0.5-1 m;
• up to 0.25 mm - for goods 1-1.5 m long;
• up to 0.3 mm - for goods 1.5-2 m long;
• up to 0.6 mm - for goods 2-3 m long.

Recall that until now in the Russian Federation there were no norms that would make it possible to distinguish between the body kit of the buyer and the error of the scales. At the same time, the current version of Article 14.7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation provides for punishment for dishonest entrepreneurs in the form of a fine of 3 to 5 thousand rubles for citizens and from 20 to 50 thousand rubles for legal entities.

However, experts doubt the effectiveness of the practical applicability of the document of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. So, the former deputy head of Rosstandart Vladimir Krutikov believes that the project needs to be finalized, since the error for different types of scales is not the same, and the government decided to unify them. At the same time, a communist deputy, a member of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Innovative Development and Entrepreneurship, Alexander Potapov, is sure that the new norm is useless, since it is almost impossible to implement it.

Underweight from 1 to 10 grams is legal.
What can be considered underweight, and what is the norm?
May 15, 2015

This summer, the indicators of permissible error in the packaging of goods will come into force in Russia. Depending on the weight, volume and length of goods, allowable fluctuations are determined, which will not fall under the concept of measurement or body kit for buyers. If the error is exceeded, citizens will have the right to demand "fairness", and sellers may face an impressive fine. The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation has developed a resolution with a list of errors, which will improve the legal regulation in the field of trade, in terms of ensuring the uniformity of measurements to prevent consumers from measuring, weighing or calculating. The project has already been publicly discussed. Its entry into force is scheduled for June 1, 2015.
In order to protect consumers from deception, and trade enterprises from litigation, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed to establish a minimum error when weighing goods. Thus, according to the draft order, underweight in goods by weight can range from 1 to 10 grams, depending on the weight of the goods. Or from 0.3 to 3.3 ml when measuring the volume of goods in liters. And in the linear size of the goods is allowed from 0.1 to 0.6 mm.
Permissible error when packaging goods:
with weight:
from 2 to 10 kg - 10 gr
from 0.5 to 2 kg - 5 gr
from 0.1 to 0.5 kg - 2 gr
up to 0.1 kg - 1 g with the volume:
from 2 to 10 l - 3.3 ml
from 0.5 to 2 l - 1.6 ml
from 0.1 to 0.5 l - 0.6 ml
up to 0.1 l - 0.3 ml with a length of:
from 2 to 3 m - 0.6 mm
from 1.5 to 2 m - 0.3 mm
from 1 to 1.5m - 0.25mm
from 0.5 to 1m - 0.2mm
from 0.3 to 0.5 m - 0.15 mm
up to 0.3 m - 0.1 mm
It is not explained what exactly such norms of errors are justified. Most likely, the authorities considered her insignificant but at the same time allowing to avoid disputes for each gram, milliliter and centimeter of goods. However, as Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Viktor Yevtukhov noted, even with modern electronic scales it is difficult to ensure an ideal and constant compliance with the weight norm, an error is possible both downward and upward for each specific weighing unit. This error was previously regulated by GOST, which is currently invalid.
Also, the Ministry of Industry and Trade drew attention to the fact that the Russian media have already dubbed this order "the norm of body kit for buyers." This doesn't match reality, emphasize the ministry. Many commercial enterprises are conscientious and without limitation of error. However, it is not uncommon for buyers to go on principle and sue for "penny". There are also cases when law enforcement agencies do not undertake to resolve a conflict between a buyer and an object of trade for a “real” underweight, since our legislation does not yet have a starting point, what is considered a body kit, and what is natural shrinkage of goods.
According to the Union of Consumers of Russia, every year about 15% of consumers, on average, complain about the underweight of goods or cheating when weighing, which is millions of citizens. At the same time, 80-90% of buyers' claims, if they begin to assert their rights, are satisfied by sellers without going to court.
But our legislation has long established responsibility for body kit, measurement and shortfall. According to Article 14.7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, administrative fines are established for this: for citizens - from 3,000 to 5,000 rubles, for officials - from 10,000 to 30,000 rubles and for legal entities - from 20,000 to 50,000 rubles.
According to the representative of the Russian Society for the Protection of Consumer Rights, introducing body kit standards is nonsense, which provokes the dealers themselves to deceive buyers. But the responsibility and fines of sellers for body kit or fuzzy operation of electronic scales must be increased many times over.
But, as the lawyers explained, Rospotrebnadzor and the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology (Rosstandart), as well as legal entities accredited to it, are checking the scales of merchants. and individual entrepreneurs. With unauthorized adjustment, for example, the lack of integrity of the seal or interference with the electronic modules of the scales to unscrupulous sellers are subject to administrative and criminal penalties. In particular, the article "Fraud" of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. And this is a completely different story.

Alexander Chikilevsky, the head of the Guild of Chefs and Chefs of Belarus, the chef of the restaurant "Publica" describes the mechanism.

If in doubt, by no means start eating the dish: there may be problems explaining the indignation. Call the administrator and report the problem. The number of grams, of course, must be present under the name of the dish. Ideally, it is indicated through a fraction. For example, 100 g of an ingredient / 150 g of a certain side dish.

But what if the dish is actually underweighed, should the guest pay for it? We asked this question Vyacheslav Bobrov, brand chef of the Garage cafe chain.

The guests are also different. To get to the bottom of the truth, the guest has every right to ask the waiter to weigh the dish right in front of his eyes. He may also ask for a technological card for the dish, which contains the exact number of grams.

Marina Kluka, director of the cafe-lounge "Chekhov", expressed a similar opinion.

In this case, the administrator provides the guest with a flow chart and scales. If you are correct, you should have the ordered dish replaced.

Please contact management directly Evgeny Sadovsky, founder of cafe and delivery "ProSushi":

The dish should be tasty and beautiful, then it should correspond to the output stated in the menu. And if such a situation happened, then the guest, in my opinion, should give feedback to the company's management and solve everything. After all, the guest is our everything, and he must be 100% satisfied.

In order to declare our innocence at the right time and in the right place with the knowledge of a lawyer, we turned with questions to the Belarusian Society for the Protection of Consumers. No one answered the letter, but we did not despair and got through!

According to the lawyer, the guest is obliged to call the administrator with a request to weigh the dish in front of him. However, the lawyer added that if the dish is really underweighed, you still have to pay for it. Payment is made as a percentage of the weight of the dish. If you were brought a dish weighing, for example, 100 g, and it should be 150 g, a certain amount of percent is subtracted from the amount of the dish.

So, you doubted the weight of the dish?

1. Look at the menu, and suddenly you made a mistake. It happens to everyone!
2. Look at the obligatory number under the name of the dish on the menu. And now for your dish. Didn't see eye to eye?
3. Then feel free to call the waiter / administrator and explain the position.
4. If you are not convinced - ask for scales and a technological map of the dish.
5. Check the data.
6. With a negative figure on the scales - demand a replacement dish.
7. With a positive result: remove pride with a broom and enjoy the taste of food!

Have you ever felt deeply deceived when looking at a plate of salad ordered at a restaurant? If yes, then the feelings that the browser experienced recently will be clearly familiar to you.

How does it happen…

Perhaps the underweight of the ordered dish is one of the most offensive phenomena faced by catering customers. Restaurateurs like to underweight in different ways. More often we are talking about the banal "minus 30-50 grams" in a salad, the output of which on the menu is 300-400 grams.

Anything can be underweight: an appetizer, soup, a hot main course and even dessert. The calculation is that the client will not make claims, because, firstly, he is hungry and, as a rule, in a hurry, and secondly, he is unlikely to be able to prove the absence of grams of food on the plate on the spot.

There are also more sophisticated methods, for example, replacing the ingredients of a dish. Some readers have repeatedly complained about cases of replacing Mozzarella cheese with Soviet Poshekhonsky cheese in restaurants in the capital.

Another “case” is underfilling. And okay, if they brought you a decanter of vodka, where instead of the ordered 200 grams, 150 grams splash. In this case, you can get the liquid measured from the bartender, who has a beaker.

But what if they brought you, for example, a glass of an alcoholic cocktail full of ice? That is, instead of the ordered 200 grams of a cocktail, the maximum that you drink is 100-150 grams. The rest will be water in the form of ice cubes. At best - from the filter, at worst - from the tap.

By the way, banquet "requisitions" can be considered a separate topic of conversation. The observer, who himself worked at one time in a public catering, witnessed how the “sharing” of food and drinks between restaurant workers takes place.

In fact, only 60–70% of what is ordered ends up on the table in the form of snacks and alcoholic cocktails. “Excess” food remains in the storerooms of the restaurant, and the brought alcohol is fraternally divided between waiters and bartenders.

Who makes the menu?

According to STB 1209-2005 “Public catering. Terms and definitions”, menu is a list of products of own production, purchased goods, offered to the consumer in a certain period, indicating the mass, volume or other measure of a product unit (portion) and price; wine list - a list of alcoholic beverages arranged in a certain order, indicating the volume or other measure of the product unit (portion), price.

The menu is compiled on the basis of the assortment list of the sold products of own production, goods agreed with local executive and administrative bodies.

In accordance with the "Recommendations for the preparation and design of menus in commercial catering facilities" (approved by the First Deputy Minister of Trade of the Republic of Belarus M. I. Sventitsky on March 20, 2008), in restaurants, cafes, bars, with the exception of those specializing in the preparation of dishes of national cuisines other peoples, the menu must include an assortment of dishes of the Belarusian national cuisine.

The menu indicates name of the dish, product, mass, volume or other unit measure of the product (portions), their price. For alcoholic beverages, the menu indicates the capacity of consumer packaging and price, as well as the volume and price of a serving. The volume of a portion of alcoholic beverages is determined by the pricing instructions for catering facilities.

For champagne, sparkling wines, the price in the menu is indicated per unit of their consumer packaging. For certain forms of service (buffet, reception, etc.), it is allowed not to indicate the output of dishes, products and their price in the menu.

The output of dishes is determined and indicated in the menu, taking into account rational consumption rates (salads up to 100-150 g, hot appetizers - 70-100 g, soups - 250-300 g, hot dishes - 100-150 g, side dishes - 150-200 g and etc.).

In the menu of restaurants, cafes, bars, the composition of dishes and products can be indicated, photos of the dishes being sold can be placed. The name of the dish, its output are indicated in accordance with the technological documents for its production.

How to deal with underfilling and underweight?

Despite the fact that there are documents in the Belarusian legislation that give recommendations on how the menu should be compiled, unfortunately, there is no information on what to do in case of a clear underweight or underfilling. With this question, we turned to the main department of the consumer market of the Minsk City Executive Committee.

As the head of the catering department Irina Shulyakovskaya said, if underweight / replacement of ingredients is clearly detected, it is necessary to demand a control measurement of the portion weight on the spot. You have the right to apply to the waiter with a request for a public overweight of either the entire volume of the ordered dish, or in its components separately. Upon a targeted request, the overweight process can take place both in the kitchen in the presence of the client and in the service room.

“If you are refused to make an overweight, you can record this in the Book of Comments and Suggestions, and additionally send an appeal to the main department of the consumer market of the Minsk City Executive Committee, or to the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Belarus. Checks will be carried out on a specific fact,” I. Shulyakovskaya said.

As Aleksey Nesterenko, a leading specialist of the Legal Services Center, notes, one of the basic consumer rights established by the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Protection of Consumer Rights” No. , services).

According to paragraph 5 of Art. 7 of this Law, it is provided that when providing catering services to the consumer, at his request, information must be provided on the composition of food products, dishes, culinary products indicated in the menu, methods of their culinary processing.

As a rule, information about the composition of a dish is brought to the attention of the consumer by indicating the ingredients and their quantity (mass) in the menu. Of course, the dish must exactly match the information provided to the consumer.

The absence of the declared ingredients, the replacement of one ingredient with another without the consent of the consumer, the discrepancy between the mass of the dish and its ingredients stated in the menu is not allowed.

If the consumer was not provided with complete and reliable information about the ordered dish, which caused undesirable consequences for the consumer, the consumer has the right, at his own discretion, to demand: replacement of the dish or immediate gratuitous elimination of defects; proportional reduction of the purchase price; refund of the money paid (in case of refusal to eat the dish). The consumer also has the right to demand compensation for his losses, if any.

If the catering service provider (cook, waiter, bartender, etc.) deliberately replaces the ingredients with cheaper ones, underestimates the weight of the dish (ingredients) compared to that indicated on the menu, then such actions can be qualified as fraud of consumers, which is an administrative offense under Art. 12.16 of the Code of the Republic of Belarus on administrative offenses.

If the violation in question is allowed at the direction of the head of the public catering establishment, then there is such an administrative offense as violation of the rules of trade and provision of services to the population, which entails the imposition of a fine, and may also entail the cancellation of the license for retail trade and catering.

However, it should be noted that the violation in question is difficult to prove and is usually detected only by conducting a test purchase.

Please note that an application with a request to conduct a test purchase in a particular restaurant must be addressed not to the catering department of the main department of the consumer market of the Minsk City Executive Committee, but to the department for combating economic crimes of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, or to the tax service at the place of registration of the catering point.