Singapore — Yet another video has surfaced of an allegedly underweight fresh food product from NTUC FairPrice.
TikToker @ben20220207 uploaded a video showing a slice of salmon.
The FairPrice Xtra label on the package gives a weight of 0.296 kg and a corresponding price of $9.15. But the netizen claims that when the package of salmon was weighed, it was actually 0.176kg. This would mean that the fish was overpriced by some 68 per cent.
The video was circulated online on Tuesday (Feb 8), with many netizens commenting they had lost trust in NTUC FairPrice.
On Saturday (Feb 5), a woman in Singapore posted a video showing a packet of boneless chicken breast she purchased. The FairPrice Xtra label on the package stated weight of 0.224 kg and a corresponding price of $2.42.
However, the woman, whose name is given as Nina Monzolevska, claimed that when she checked on a weighing scale at home, the meat in its package appeared to weigh just 0.165 kg. She posted on TikTok, with the caption: “FairPrice doesn’t seem that fair anymore :(”
The same day, FairPrice said it was aware of this and posted a response on Facebook:
“Ensuring product integrity, which includes accurate labelling is of paramount importance to us,” said the supermarket chain, adding that it has reached out to the customer as part of its investigation into the matter.
“We ask also that customers who find any labelling discrepancy of products to approach our store staff immediately so that we may rectify the issue in a timely manner,” said the post.
According to a Shin Min Daily report, a reporter went to NTUC FairPrice, Sheng Siong, and Cold Storage supermarkets to weigh boneless chicken breasts and filet randomly and without prejudice, found a packet of chicken breast from NTUC FairPrice labelled as 174g weighed exactly as indicated.
The reporter also found that Sheng Siong and Cold Storage both sold chicken that actually weighed more than indicated on the packaging.
According to the Shin Min report, the label on a packet of chicken breasts from Sheng Siong read 252g, but the actual weight was 273g, 21g more.
At Cold Storage, a packet of chicken filets that said 300g on the packaging turned out to be 375g, 75g more.
TISG has reached out to NTUC FairPrice regarding the second incident of the salmon being overpriced and in response, an NTUC FairPrice spokesperson said:
Based on the initial assessment from the video, the mislabelling incident which occurred at our store at FairPrice Xtra @ Ang Mo Kio Hub is likely caused by human error.
We ask that the customer who posted the video to contact us to provide further information so that we may conduct a more comprehensive investigation.
Regardless, we apologise for the public concern this might have caused and agree this should not have occurred.
Across all our FairPrice supermarkets, FairPrice Finest and FairPrice Xtra outlets, all our weighing scales are independently calibrated by authorised vendors certified by the authorities.
The scales are checked on a yearly basis and undergo maintenance twice a year, thereafter, it is affixed with its respective certification dates.
In addition, as an added preventive measure, we have instituted additional protocols where all our stores will need to conduct daily checks on the scales before the start of business.
Fresh products that have already been labelled will also have the weight rechecked to ensure label accuracy.
We kindly request that customers who find any labelling discrepancy of products to approach our store staff immediately so that we may rectify the issue in a timely manner.
To safeguard the interests of our customers, we have in place a policy where we will honour a full refund or exchange for products that have been inaccurately labelled.