New Law to Require Scales in the Produce Section Moves Ahead

The Knesset Control Committee has authorized for its final reading a law that will require supermarkets to provide a scale for customers in their fruit and vegetable departments, as well as in other departments that sell items by weight. The law, according to its sponsors – MKs Rabbi Moshe Gafni, Rabbi Uri Maklev and Rabbi Yaakov Asher – will ensure that consumers get what they pay for, and do not overspend or go out of the bounds of their budget.

“This law is necessary in order to ensure that individuals are able to make intelligent choices and purchase the amount of fruits and vegetables they actually need,” said MK Rabbi Asher. “Very often we are sent out to buy a kilo of potatoes by the person in charge of the kitchen, and we come home with a lot more. We don’t realize how much more until we get to the checkout line, and then it is too late, because nobody is going to return the excess to the vegetable department.”

While several grocery industry officials offered objections, MK Eitan Cabel, chairman of the committee, rejected them. “I also go shopping and cook at home, and I too have had this problem,” he said. “Sometimes a customer gets to the checkout and realizes that his ‘eyes were too big’ and he took more than necessary, but no one is going to hold up the line to return four tomatoes.”