A letter in today's Irish Times about filthy tricks but no attack on the metric system:
* * * Sir, - Concealing price increases under the guise of the metric system is not new for Irish food processors. As far back as 1970 a similar attempt was made by Lough Egish Co-op to replace 8 oz packs of butter with 200 gram tubs for the same price. At that time the metric system was largely unknown and many people did not realise they were getting only 7 ozs. This meant a price increase of over 14 per cent. Another present-day ploy is to sell bacon in packs of five, six, seven or 10 rashers, with no price per kilo shown. Price increases of 30 to 60 per cent over loose-cut rashers can thus go unnoticed. An EU directive of February 1998 obliges retailers to show the unit price (price per kilo). Three-and-a-half years later, this has not been implemented in Ireland. I hope Mr Tom Kitt, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, will now tell us why. - Yours, etc., JOAN MORRISON, Ailesbury Park, Dublin 4.
