An unexpected weight

[ For the sake of our Moderators … please keep this technical ! ]

I recently bought some Conference Pears from Tesco

These are imported from Belgium and the standard pack weighs 610g

… The obvious question being … Why ?

I’m sure we are all familiar with ‘Metric’ weights of 454g and 227g but I cannot see anything special about 610

MichaelG.

Perhaps 4 ( or however many )pears generally weigh 610 g

on a different note i bought some safety guard switches (ferroguard) and they were made in Dominican Republic

not a country i'd think about for other than fruit and veg

Maybe average of what 4 pears that pass their size criteria weigh.

Would take a lot of sorting to find 4 pears that weigh a nice round number and too much of a faff to weigh each group of 4, print weight label and charge on a weight basis.

It could be our love of round numbers that makes seem strange.

Fair comments, both

But the weight is explicitly stated [not an ‘average’ or ‘approx’ in sight]

they also give a size range of 58/68mm and note that ‘This pack contains a minimum of 4 pears’

It just seems strange and is engineering-ish, as befits the Tea Room

MichaelG.

This is just speculation.

If they are classed by weight then the lower limit for one of the classes may be 150g. To be on the safe side of legality they aim for a minimum of 152.5g. That means 4 pears must weigh at least 610g.

There is also the issue of things like pre-packaged fresh meat where they aim for an average pack weight. This average is indicated by an E symbol next to the pack weight. You did not mention if the pack of four pears has this E symbol next to the weight. If the limits of acceptable weight for four pears are 600g and 620g then 610g E may be put on the packs of pears.

End of speculation.

I notice that if I buy something like a jar of large pickled cucumbers/gherkins they often have a piece that is cut off a whole item to meet the weight or fill the jar. With a fresh pear that is not something you can do.

Martin C

You mentioned no sign of an average as I was composing this.

Edited By Martin Connelly on 05/09/2023 08:59:44

It will be the E bit, "not less than" which is a strictly enforced weight

The little bit of candy in fancy chocolate boxes was in there for that reason

They only want to flog 4 packaged pears

The law demands a minimum packaged weight

Edited By Ady1 on 05/09/2023 09:05:59

Rather unusually I picked up some pears at the community garden on Saturday and have just tried weighing them. Very repeatable narrow range at 830, 820, 810g each so perhaps they can zero in on a particular weight. Did it include the packaging?

The weight has to be for the consumable

There was that water soaked chicken hoo-ha many years ago

I will photograph the plastic bag later !

Sorry … I thought I had been sufficiently explicit about what was, and was not, stated thereon.

MichaelG.

Hi, well I usually get a Pack of Packham pears, produce of South Africa, (I don't like Conference pears) these packs just have 550g printed on the packaging, and contain five pears. I've weighed the four that are left with the packaging and it comes to 549g, the packaging weighs just 4g, so assuming the packaging is not included in the weight stated on the packaging, the pear that I had yesterday weighed -3g, which it clearly didn't, as it was about the same size as the four that are left. Often when I get these, the pears are significantly smaller than those that I have at the moment. So my conclusion is that the weight that is printed on the packaging is the minimum weight of the produce you will get.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 05/09/2023 10:17:14

Michael may be pass some more time by contemplating why they give the nutritional value of a typical pear weighing 133g

.

Presumably because they are Tesco

…. and possibly so that they can claim their pears are bigger than typical

MichaelG.

I would suspect that the growers/packers grade their pears into very tight weight categories, and then supply to the supermarkets based on specific requirements (size number, price). E.g. Waitrose sell Braeburn apples in two different packs. One contains five smaller apples, and one contains four larger ones.

It would be interesting to know the variance between the individual pears in Michael's pack.

I have three bags of these pears, each containing Qty.4

Although I have not weighed them, all twelve pears look ‘reasonably’ interchangeable

This bag has the marking 1:3 but the others are marked 1:4

… I know not what that means

MichaelG.

.

.

Hi MichaelG, that 1:3 & 1:4 you have mentioned, could actually be I:3 & I:4, which looking at my previous two week bags that I've fished out of the bag ready to take to Tesco's recycling trolley has H:24 & H:31 and this weeks bag has I:3 on it. I'm guessing these are "display until" dates, as I bought this weeks bag on Sunday the 3rd September, hence, the H denoting August and the I September.

I noticed that your pears have a size from 58 to 68mm, whereas my pears seem to have a weight from 105 to 140g.

I've never really taken much notice of these things before.

Regards Nick.

P.S. My pears are also packed in Welwyn Garden City.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 05/09/2023 15:50:41

Thanks, Nick … I wasn’t sure about the 1 or I

and, typically, opted erroneously.

MichaelG.

610mm/24" ?

Just asking ???

I once had an "engineering" task which was to make a cardboard bridge of a certain width which was to be supported on tin cans (obviously, at each end) and to bear the weight of a third can with a minimum weight of 400 g. The aim was to maximise the length of the bridge.

Clearly, the nearer that I could get to 400 g for the load, the better.

Even ignoring the weight of the tin, I found no produce with a net weight of 400 g. 'Tis odd!

Edited By Chris Pearson 1 on 05/09/2023 18:48:09

Ah, but the Engineering solution is to choose a tin holding something you like, eat the contents, rinse the empty container then fill it with suitable ballast to make 400.0g .......