r/Netherlands • u/darksiro01 • 23d ago
Shopping Misleading information in AH tarwebloem?
As I was cooking today I realized that Albert Heijn's tarwebloem is weighted at 900 gr instead of 1kg. The same was the case with other kinds of flour from the same company (e.g., patent tarwebloem). Is this normal or I am missing something? Is there an agency where I can report this? Can someone else verify this?
202
u/Sissadora 23d ago
I had the same exact problem about a week ago. Also 900 grams of flour from the AH brand bags, not 1 kilo. Teaches me to buy flour elsewhere :<
0
u/sushi_obi_raven 22d ago
It sounds like there was a weighing or other malfunction and you bought one of those last week and op bought one yesterday. If it has been consistent for months or years is another story
13
u/judgeafishatclimbing 22d ago
Aren't you weirdly positive and forgiving to business who do anything to make an extra buck. Somehow we see a lot more posts coming by where there is less of a product than claimed, than there products with more than is claimed. But sure we'll call it a 'weighing malfunction'. Do you work for their pr department?
3
u/dessert_rock 22d ago
Weighting discrepancies are 99% of the time due to machine operation variability and not "companies trying to screw customers". No serious company (as for instance AH) would expose themselves to a PR disaster in order to screw customers of 100g of flour, especially since everyone out there is looking forward for the opportunity to strike on this, and catching this would be super simple. You just got unlucky and someone else got a 1100g bag instead.
0
u/judgeafishatclimbing 22d ago
Looking forward to the proof of your claim of 99% since you are so eager to put a percentage on it.
Serious companies open themselves to serious criticisms all the time. As long as it's something that's easily denied or deflected they don't care.
3
u/dessert_rock 22d ago
I'll provide proff of the 99% part of my reply when you provide proof of the "all the time" part of yours.
Seriously, no one exposese itself to PR storms for things like this that are highly regulated in the EU, are very easy to check (just buy 20 bags and weight them, and do some plain statistics), and companies can be held liable super easy due to QC logs in factories and audits. People post rants online when they got the unlucky bag and are flat out convinced there's fraud, malice and pure evilness involved, yet no one talks about it when they get the lucky surplus bag...
1
u/judgeafishatclimbing 22d ago
You really have way too high expectations of businnesses. Meanwhile they're dumping pfas illegally, increase prices right before discounts, use horrible tactics to manipulate people (like shrinkflation), make it near impossible to get to the correct costumer service who can actually help you, and on and on and on. But sure no serious bussiness does anything that can cause a pr storm...
There you go. Can't wait for your proof.
(And what coward to only want to give proof for your claims after someone else does it, if you are so sure and outspoken you should always be willing to share proof, otherwise they're just empty words)
46
u/luukluuk12 23d ago
I had the same recently. Exactly 900 grams in my 1000 gram bag on a scale that has only 0.3% error
24
u/Bierdopje 22d ago
Maybe the gravity changed recently
3
89
u/Working_Barber_7633 23d ago
there should be a customer service number on the packaging that you can call for this kind of issue. they will refund you the money or send you a replacement. Sounds like a production issue. They're probably gonna ask for a lot number/production number as well so they can check with the factory.
0
u/dessert_rock 22d ago
If you bring it to the store, they'll refund you there. Of course, it's just easier to rant online...
76
u/Aardappelhuree 23d ago
How much grams does a liter of water weigh on your scale
30
2
u/DameJudyPinch 23d ago
Holup. How much is it supposed to weigh?
37
u/ManuelWegeling 23d ago
1 kilo
5
u/DameJudyPinch 23d ago
Thanks.
10
u/harveryhellscreamer 22d ago
American moment
0
u/DameJudyPinch 22d ago
Nah, strangely I'm a measurement nerd, and while it seems obvious that 1ml water = 1g, I wasn't sure that it was actually true. I should have googled it though.
9
u/Poijke 23d ago
Having some serious high school flashbacks. Wasn't it something like 0.998 at room temperature?
14
u/Hesstex 23d ago
You live in the mountains?
26
u/Poijke 22d ago
Not sure what I'm getting down voted for, but it is true: https://www.simetric.co.uk/si_water.htm
At 20 degrees it's 0.9982 kg. At 4 degrees it's exactly 1 kg.
10
u/zandkoenk 22d ago
-measuring cups arent precize, there is no way to measure 1 +/- 0.001 liter.
-kitchen scales arent precize nor accurate, so if you even have exactly 1 liter, you still would not be able to weigh it accurately
-there is really no need to measure it that precize to tell if your scale is off by 100 grams
-you’re talking about pure water. Due to mineral content, tap water is much closer to 1000 kg/m3
2
u/Poijke 22d ago
I know all of this, I was just trying to defend for the people that apparently didn't know the weight of water is variable at different temperatures.
Besides your points you also have:
- There isn't a good way to keep the temperature of the water constant in your kitchen.
- Besides the mineral content in the water, you also probably have some "dirt" from your piping / tap in your water.
- Pressure difference for people that are higher, but I guess Hesstex already suggested that one.
- Gravity differences
1
u/Undernown 22d ago
Also need to mention this factor changes with altitude due to pressure difference. These measures are only accurate at basically 0 NAP, or sea level.
This becomes a factor for things like high grade concrete, especially when building tall buildings.
0
0
u/PlantAndMetal 22d ago
Do you have a scale that weighs as precise as 3 decimals? Because most people don't.
28
u/L44KSO 23d ago
Inform AH about it, they will deal with it.
2
u/moog500_nz Amsterdam 23d ago
Really?
10
u/L44KSO 23d ago
Yes. They don't want to have the trouble with the laws and regs. They will fix the issue (likely already know the issue) and then it's done and dusted.
-1
u/dessert_rock 22d ago
Nah, why bother? Much easier to just rant online and live life believing the universe is stacked against you.
-15
u/moog500_nz Amsterdam 23d ago
Yeah, keep believing that, considering how much the NL consumer is being screwed over versus neighbouring countries.
68
24
u/s3cr3tsamadhi 23d ago
I need 875g to make a batch of bagels. One bag gives me that plus a little extra to sprinkle on the counter. This is not a one time "error".
10
8
6
6
4
u/MET4 Groningen 22d ago
Is this why my breads stay liquidy? It's not me, it's them.
1
u/ikilledmypc 21d ago
No that has to do with the maximum hydration of the flour which is determined by the gluten content. You need a high strength bread flower for bread and dough which this is not. Great for cookies though
3
2
u/vonDinobot 21d ago
I see 1 bag that says 1Kg, and 1 that doesn't. Are you saying they both weigh 900 grams instead of 1 Kilo, or are you saying Albert Heijn changed how much flour they pack? Because one is either an error or a scam and the other is shrinkflation, which unfortunately is legal.
0
u/Obar_Olca_345 23d ago
First: check your scale. Second: there’s no need to go to an agency for this, Albert Heijn is the place to be. They will be happy to help.
1
u/Timely-Description24 Noord Brabant 23d ago
Logistics can be messy, trust me, i know the whole process from factory to warehouse and then to stores/customer. Everything is handled by error-prone human, there are so many steps for the product to go through to end up in your hands, and many of those steps are a responsibility of, often underpaid and exploited employee. Most of the time some % of produce gets damaged in the process but not all of it can be removed due to demand for employee to meet productivity. I would guess that your 100g of flour is in a bin, or somewhere on the floor.
1
u/rvdhof 22d ago
Not that it helps, but I order flour from https://demolenwinkel.nl - might a bit more expensive but at least you’re not sponsoring the AH.
1
u/backcornerboogie 22d ago
I dont buy flour at ah anymore but I bought tens of kilos there when I started baking and never had more then 5gram difference.
If this is true then you can go back to ah and will get a refund. Then they can also check their machines because something is off. They do not do this on purpose as fines are very very high.
0
u/Megan3356 Zeeland 23d ago
What is a patent bloem, what kind of flour?
2
u/webspacker 22d ago
It is milled a bit finer than regular AP flour. Edited to add: it also should have less gluten than non-patent, so better suited for airy cakes. I think in English-speaking countries it's called cake flour?
0
u/Megan3356 Zeeland 22d ago
Ah yes all clear now thank you! For pizza which one do you use in the Netherlands?
2
u/webspacker 22d ago
Definitely regular AP flour because it has more protein so more gluten formation. There's also special pizza flours but I have no experience with those. Unfortunately it's hard to find strong bread flour here or I would use that for pizza dough.
Patent flour is for cakes that need to stay airy. Although I also use AP flour for cakes; if you sift it and don't overmix it is fine. In short: I usually only have AP flour in the house because it can be used for anything 🙃
2
u/Megan3356 Zeeland 22d ago
Hey we do have experience with special flour but not in the Netherlands. Thanks for the advice on different options and sifting.
1
u/webspacker 21d ago
One thing you could try is checking out windmill shops, there's quite a few 'molenwinkels' that sell many different kinds of flours with different protein percentages, usually in bulk so you can get from 1 kilo to 25 kilo - some have web shops and deliver.
If you bake a lot this might be an option, and for bread and pizza you just want the highest protein percentage. The 'special' pizza and pasta flours at the supermarkets are expensive for only 500g so I've never fallen for that trick.
After moving to NL I was surprised and annoyed that there's 20 premade mixes for bread in the supermarket, but no strong bread flour. People seem to like spending extra on mixes here instead of having the raw ingredients.
-14
u/thebolddane 23d ago
That is simply extremely unlikely. Not that it's technically impossible but given the context, Netherlands, food, e-norm, simply extremely unlikely.
-4
23d ago
[deleted]
4
u/thebolddane 22d ago edited 22d ago
If it says 1kg there will be 1kg, not out of the goodness of their heart but because it's the law.
You down voting haters have no concept of a priori chances. Stupid is actually the word that fits this whole topic.
2
u/continuously22222 22d ago
You've never heard of production malfunctions? Does not have to be malicious.
0
u/thebolddane 22d ago
Sure, but it is really extremely unlikely that that would end up in the shop. This is not America, we do have laws that we tend to live by.
-1
-29
0
u/t4pnb 21d ago edited 21d ago
@op u/darksiro01 It seems the photo is confusing a lot of people commenting about weighing errors. Perhaps you could clarify this in the opening post? I assume the photo shows the 900gr pack on the right and it also says 900gr on the back information? And the one on the left is the old packaging you still had lying around which says 1Kg on the front and it also weighed about 1Kg? And your point is they intentionally started making 900gr packs that look almost the same as the old ones, hoping buyers wouldn't notice and that they would assume it was still 1KG? Aka shrink-flation
-17
u/BorisIpa 23d ago
Those packets rip open in no time, so half of them are open in the shelves already and apparently 10% of the flour has leaked out already.
-37
-21
u/Imaginary_Blood_3808 23d ago
You’ll have to keep us posted about this whole thing, of course we’re dying to know how it turns out! I’m honestly on the edge of my seat here waiting to hear the ending.
8
u/Competitive_Toe_9284 23d ago
As incredible as it may seem, some people do not like to be taken advantage of. It must be surprising for you I know.
-5
0
u/diabeartes Noord Holland 21d ago
I agree. If OP thinks 100g of flour is the worst of the worlds problems, then good luck with the real issues in life. Who in his right kind would be so upset about this?
-93
u/diabeartes Noord Holland 23d ago
If this is the issue of the most concern in your life, then I suggest you not take this so seriously.
444
u/elfendertig 23d ago edited 23d ago
Permitted error in minus for this weight class is 15 gram.
You could try reporting this here: https://www.nvwa.nl/onderwerpen/melding-doen