Perhaps 4 ( or however many )pears generally weigh 610 g

on a different note i bought some safety guard switches (ferroguard) and they were made in Dominican Republic

not a country i'd think about for other than fruit and veg

It could be our love of round numbers that makes seem strange.

This is just speculation.

If they are classed by weight then the lower limit for one of the classes may be 150g. To be on the safe side of legality they aim for a minimum of 152.5g. That means 4 pears must weigh at least 610g.

There is also the issue of things like pre-packaged fresh meat where they aim for an average pack weight. This average is indicated by an E symbol next to the pack weight. You did not mention if the pack of four pears has this E symbol next to the weight. If the limits of acceptable weight for four pears are 600g and 620g then 610g E may be put on the packs of pears.

End of speculation.

I notice that if I buy something like a jar of large pickled cucumbers/gherkins they often have a piece that is cut off a whole item to meet the weight or fill the jar. With a fresh pear that is not something you can do.

Martin C

You mentioned no sign of an average as I was composing this.

Edited By Martin Connelly on 05/09/2023 08:59:44

Rather unusually I picked up some pears at the community garden on Saturday and have just tried weighing them. Very repeatable narrow range at 830, 820, 810g each so perhaps they can zero in on a particular weight. Did it include the packaging?

Michael may be pass some more time by contemplating why they give the nutritional value of a typical pear weighing 133g

I would suspect that the growers/packers grade their pears into very tight weight categories, and then supply to the supermarkets based on specific requirements (size number, price). E.g. Waitrose sell Braeburn apples in two different packs. One contains five smaller apples, and one contains four larger ones.

It would be interesting to know the variance between the individual pears in Michael's pack.

Hi MichaelG, that 1:3 & 1:4 you have mentioned, could actually be I:3 & I:4, which looking at my previous two week bags that I've fished out of the bag ready to take to Tesco's recycling trolley has H:24 & H:31 and this weeks bag has I:3 on it. I'm guessing these are "display until" dates, as I bought this weeks bag on Sunday the 3rd September, hence, the H denoting August and the I September.

I noticed that your pears have a size from 58 to 68mm, whereas my pears seem to have a weight from 105 to 140g.

I've never really taken much notice of these things before.

Regards Nick.

P.S. My pears are also packed in Welwyn Garden City.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 05/09/2023 15:50:41

610mm/24" ?

Just asking ???

Ah, but the Engineering solution is to choose a tin holding something you like, eat the contents, rinse the empty container then fill it with suitable ballast to make 400.0g …….

My weekly size '10' Pineapple from the big M varies. Don't know where the 10 originates, Diameter, Length or Weight. On odd occasions, an '8' gets mixed in, yummy.

Regards Ian.

It's going back a bit and times / laws change…..

4o odd years ago my then local hardware sole trader had some scales that he only used to sell putty by the pound out of a big drum. The weights got putty stuck to them from his hands. Weights and Measures were very unhappy about this and insisted that either he cleaned his weights or took a trip to court.

So back then at least giving the customer more than expected was frowned upon even though the greengrocer next door had clean weights but had to give you extra for obvious reasons discussed above.