This way of measuring probably dates back to old country days when stores sold fruit and vegetables without benefit of a scale, rather by volume only.
A few years ago we were taking our son to a summer camp in Delaware, near Lewes and Rehoboth Beach. On the way home we stopped by a roadside produce stand. Something was being sold by a "quarter peck." I asked one of the workers what a "peck" was and he didn't know, just that it was about "that much" big (pointing to what was being sold). There's a lot of strange legacy stuff that will have to get cleaned out when the day finally comes. Carleton -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of James Frysinger Sent: Saturday, May 24, 2008 08:31 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:40966] Re: dry pints of tomatoes Pierre, Some fresh produce may be sold by weight or by dry (capacity or volume) measure: e.g., beans, berries, tomatoes, plums, mushrooms, etc. Some fresh produce may be sold by weight or by count. Some fresh produce must be sold by weight. Those are not required to have SI units indicated. I, too, find it frustrating. How does one compare the prices on fresh strawberries (sold by the pint) and frozen strawberries (sold by the pound and gram)? Which one is the better deal? I've been known to put a pint of strawberries on the scale in the produce department to make that comparison. (I mentally allow for packaging and trim waste.) It sure gets me some strange looks! Jim Pierre Abbat wrote: > I've bought some cherry tomatoes that came in a package marked "one dry pint", > with no metric equivalent. (I've also seen some packages with an equivalent > in milliliters.) I sent an email pointing out that labeling a grocery > only "one dry pint" is illegal and asking that they be labeled in grams (I > weigh tomatoes when making a recipe). > > I just brought up the FPLA and there is no mention of a dry pint anywhere. > There's no mention of a liter either. The regulations mention dry pints, but > is it legal to sell tomatoes by volume? I think they're too big to be > accurately measured by volume and should be sold by mass. > > Pierre > > > > -- James R. Frysinger 632 Stony Point Mountain Road Doyle, TN 38559-3030 (H) 931.657.3107 (C) 931.212.0267
