Battle over Sausage Casings: That old packaging debate reignites!
- Penned by Matthias Urbach
- Est. reading time: 3 minutes
Controversial Wurstskin Incident: Question Arises over Repackaged Products? - Inquiring about payment for the packaging: Is the charge for the packaging of the item covered by the purchase?
On a bustling Tuesday, the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig found itself entangled in a centuries-old debate: liver sausage packaging. The question at hand - casing and clip; product or packaging? For the former, you dish out the cash, for the latter, you don't. A 1976 EU regulation declared casings and clips as part of the product in sausages, but events took an unexpected turn when a more recent food information regulation came into play in 2014.
This new regulation forbade the circulation of a liver sausage, with the casing and clip incorporated into the product weight. The packaging sported 130 grams of liver sausage, yet in reality, it was less than 128 grams - owing to the casing and clip's weight. This discrepancy ignited a lengthy legal trial. The Administrative Court sided with the weighing office, the Higher Administrative Court swung in favor of the manufacturer. Yesterday, the country's highest court in such matters, the Federal Administrative Court, took up the case. The Federal Administrative Court sided with the weighing office, sealing their decision that "the food's interior quantity should match the declared exterior amount," as Judge Ulla Held-Daab put it. Non-edible casings and clips should not influence the total weight.
The packaging rule: Timeless as trade itself
Most consumers may care little about the sausage casing payment, and many might not even be aware of these trading regulations. The matter of Tara, the trading term for packaging weight, has lain dormant for decades. Tara refers to the weight deduction for packaging, with only the product needing to be paid for, not the packaging itself.
Tracing back to the roots of trade, the word Tara stems from the Arabic "taraha", meaning "remove", which made its way into German in the 14th century via Italian.
Tara Deception: An Old Problem resurges
In the past, customers frequently complained to consumer centers due to inaccurate packaging weighing on weekly markets, requiring consumers to fork out extra cash. High-quality products such as Parma ham or North Sea crabs could easily add an extra 50 cents or more in excess charges.
With the rise of supermarkets, packaged goods became the norm. Manufacturers complied with the rules, complaints dwindled. "Mere older ones still cared about that," Armin Valet of the Consumer Center Hamburg told stern, "the younger ones not so much". A modest understanding of the Tara rules seems to be a lost art.
However, the issue is rearing its head once more: As ecological consciousness widens, customers increasingly bring their own packaging to the market. Supermarkets are also offering reusable nets for fruits and vegetables. With the myriad reusable bags, pouches, and nets, the checkout staff often struggles to sort through the chaos. In 16 test purchases carried out by the Consumer Advice Center Baden-Württemberg last year, reusable nets led to overcharging in over half the instances.
A Cotton Bag for Fruit Weighs 56 Grams
Furthermore, new reusable bags weigh significantly more than conventional ones: A cotton net bought by consumer advocates during the test weighed an impressive 56 grams. Deducting the usual 2 grams of Tara for a plastic bag, this translates into a considerable difference. Expensive organic fruits could easily result in an additional euro. Customers find it challenging to verify this at the checkout, as most stores fail to list Tara weights on the receipts.
Despite this, the system doesn't seem on the brink of collapse. In two of the test purchases by the Consumer Advice Center Baden-Württemberg, the markets calculated too little. Additionally, self-checkouts at Edeka often confuse customers with 18 different tare weights available, ranging from 2 to 222 grams.
Trade: No Pain with the Packaging Rule
The Federal Association of the Food Trade (BVLH) also affirmed that no agony arises from tare rules: "We strictly adhere to the legal requirements," says association lawyer Axel Haentjes. "If it's not completely clear whether a package weighs two grams or four grams, we'll just subtract four grams from the weight."
So what's next? Consumers should ensure that the tare button is pressed at the checkout when weighing. When using self-checkouts, it's best to weigh items without a bag. In essence, only the product needs to be paid for, not the packaging.
And this holds true for yesterday's liver sausage too.
Source: Federal Administrative Court, Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia, BVLH, Consumer Advice Center Hamburg, Consumer Advice Center Baden-Württemberg, with dpa
- Packaging
- Food
- Sausage
- The EU regulation from 1976 categorized sausage casings and clips as part of the product, influencing the price consumers pay.
- Judge Ulla Held-Daab from the Federal Administrative Court recently reaffirmed that the food's interior quantity should match the declared exterior amount, exempting non-edible casings and clips from the total weight.
- In the food-and-drink industry, a trading term called Tara, stemming from Arabic, refers to the weight deduction for packaging, ensuring that customers only pay for the product, not the packaging itself.
- As consumers increasingly bring their own packaging to the market and supermarkets offer reusable bags, checkout staff may struggle to sort through the different weights, potentially leading to overcharging.
- To prevent misunderstandings, customers should always ensure the tare button is pressed at the checkout when weighing and weigh items without a bag when using self-checkouts, paying only for the product, not the packaging.
