The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) two Saturdays ago seized a number of weighing devices from fish vendors at the Meadow Bank wharf, East Bank Demerara, during an early morning inspection.
The bureau in a statement said its action follows numerous complaints from consumers regarding the inaccurate amounts they were receiving from the vendors.
As a result the GNBS exercise was carried out to ensure that weighing and measuring devices in use there were in metric units, stamped for the current period, were in good working condition and to determine whether vendors were accurately weighing fish for sale.
GNBS said its findings revealed that a number of the devices were in dual mode (imperial and metric) and the low lighting conditions of the early morning posed a problem for accuracy in the reading of devices.
Some of the vendors, GNBS said, contended that they did not fully understand the metric system while others blamed consumers for requesting fish in imperial quantities.
As a result, the bureau urged that consumers request metric quantities instead of imperial quantities, since requests in imperial units could result in inaccurate measurements if metric devices are used.
As a follow up to Saturday’s visit, GNBS said it sent inspectors on Wednesday and the fish vendors’ devices were stamped for use in the current period.
Additionally, the bureau said vendors who were found selling with devices in the dual mode were asked to have them converted to metric and submitted for verification as early as possible.
The bureau in its statement said it plans to continue inspections on a regular basis on vendors, retailers and shopkeepers countrywide. It also noted that devices which are unverified or are in an unacceptable condition will be seized and removed.
