Today while looking for some condiments in my pantry I found an old can of Kool-Aid. I opened it to see if it was still good, and all I could tell was that the contents were hard but smelled fresh.  So I decided to make some.  Even though the measuring cap has markings for 1 and 2 quarts only, I heap it a little and then add 2 L of water plus some sugar.
 
A few weeks ago I was given a free 591 mL bottle of AquaFina.  Not being a big fan of bottled water, I just put it in the refridgerator.  I decided to use it to make the Kool-Aid.  I got out my Fire-King measuring cup that holds 1 L as marked on one side.  I first poured the bottled water in the cup and proceeded to pour more water from the tap to equal 1 L. 
 
Then I was surprised.  The supposed 591 mL amount filled to the 650 mL line on the cup.  I thought that is some over-fill.  Then I started to question how accurate my measuring cup is.  I really don't have a precise way to tell.  I don't have a scale to weigh the water to see if it would weigh 650 g.  So I'm asking to see if someone else has knowledge as to how accurate these kitchen cups are? 
 
If the cup is indeed accurate I think a 60 mL overfill is quite a lot.  Which brings to mind as to why they have to mark it as 591 mL when they could mark it as 600 mL and still be not cheating anyone.  I'm sure they want the package to state 20 oz for the consumer, but what is wrong if the package were 20 oz 600 mL or 600 mL 20 oz.  Both would be true if you are getting 650 mL in reality.  Just a note, the bottle was not filled to the top and could easily held a lot more before it reached the neck.
 
Has anyone ever experienced products that were labelled in an odd metric size but if checked found they actually had enough product to be labelled in a more rounded size?  Say something labelled as 236 g but contained say 244 g and could easily be labelled as 240 g?  How does sizing work?  Is there a rule about how much extra must be in the package to meet the declared contents? 
 
I find this very interesting!
 
Dan
 

Reply via email to