Most grocery stores sell produce by weight. But go out to a country Farmer's Market and you'll find the tomatoes, apples, etc. in these little bags or baskets, all priced by quaint measure such as "pint", "quart", "peck", "bushel", etc.
Carleton ----- Original Message ----- From: "John M. Steele" <[email protected]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 8:32:09 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [USMA:43240] Re: discussion of Food Marketing Institute objections to metric-only labeling option You may WISH it meant that the tomatoes would displace 551 mL of water, but the real meaning in the US is that they fit in a 551 cm³ box. Volumetric measure here is based on bulk density which accounts for the air space and shape factor of the pieces, not the intrinsic density of the material. Of course that makes it difficult to compare to loose tomatoes sold by weight. Moreover, in the package, you can't inspect/select the tomatoes, as you can when loose. Un;ess packaged is appreciably cheaper, loose is a better bet because you select the items. Most supermarkets here have scales (not legal for trade) for customer use to estimate quantity they are buying. Weigh your packaged tomatoes, estimate a small amount to subtract for tare weight of package. --- On Mon, 2/23/09, Pierre Abbat <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Pierre Abbat <[email protected]> > Subject: [USMA:43237] Re: discussion of Food Marketing Institute objections > to metric-only labeling option > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> > Date: Monday, February 23, 2009, 12:26 AM > On Sunday 22 February 2009 21:37:05 Michael Payne wrote: > > I've come across this example multiple times, > especially on items in the > > fresh produce section where you can get items packaged > and loose. > > What's worse, as I've mentioned before, is a pint > of tomatoes (551 ml) versus > loose tomatoes priced by mass. To me 551 ml of tomatoes > means that if I dunk > the tomatoes in water, they displace 551 ml. They don't > weigh anywhere near > 551 g, and unlike their capsicum relatives, they don't > have big air spaces > inside, so it's obvious that whoever measured them > included the air > interstices. > > Pierre
