Chicken rip-off: More customers claim supermarkets overcharged them for underweight chicken

A New World store that had been charging customers for the packaging and liquid along with its organic free-range chicken is not the only supermarket doing so, according to fresh complaints.

New World and Woolworths customers have contacted the Herald, claiming the net weight on the packet doesn’t match the weight of the raw meat or seafood.

Last week, it was revealed New World in Papakura had been incorrectly including the weight of packaging and fluid when pricing Bostock Brothers organic free-range chicken.

The pre-packaged chicken is sent to the store with no specified weight and it is the responsibility of supermarket staff to weigh and price the packs.

Raw chicken should be weighed without the packaging, according to New Zealand regulations. Photo / NZ Herald graphic

Further instances have been sent to the Herald where supermarket staff have mislabelled Waitoa free-range chicken, seafood mix and store-brand chicken sold in Woolworths. Brinks chicken livers have also been found to be underweight.

One online Woolworths customer found his two-pack of Woolworths-branded chicken breast was a substantial 74g less than the 694g stated on the label.

“I tried to engage with them, but after having to send through confirmation of who we were exactly, and invoices, it just got too much to pursue,” the man said.

He worked out that if each pack was 50-70g underweight, then every 10th pack would provide 100 per cent profit for Woolworths.

Another customer who bought the same Woolworths-branded barn-raised chicken online complained after the net weight was 20g under.

He was told by customer services the discrepancy was due to drip-loss - the liquid that leaches from the raw meat.

A Woolworths customer found chicken breasts ordered online were 72g under the net weight stated on the pack.

A New World customer said she had complained to the Albany store after buying more than six packets of Waitoa free-range chicken.

Waitoa chicken - like Bostock Brothers - is weighed and priced in-store.

The woman - completing a 12-week diet challenge - said she was weighing portions when she discovered the raw chicken from each packet weighed 50g less than was stated on the label.

“I contacted New World when several packs of chicken I bought were substantially underweight and they apologised and gave me extra packs,” the woman said.

A man who ordered chicken online through Woolworths was one of two who complained to the Herald about the same product being underweight.

A New World customer in Halswell complained to the store after he was charged for packaging when buying seafood mix from the counter.

He complained online and was asked to provide photos of the product.

He did, but says he did not hear back.

Another woman bought 500g of Brinks chicken livers to make two servings of pate but could only make one because the livers only weighed 483g.

“I needed the whole 500g for the recipe,” the woman said.

Brinks, which is sold through Pak’nSave and New World, issued a statement saying it was investigating its processes and took complaints seriously.

“Van Den Brink Poultry is a family-owned company and we take great pride in all the poultry products we produce,” a spokeswoman said.

“Our intention is to produce high quality, true-to-label products.”

“We thank you for bringing this complaint to our attention and we have escalated this internally for review, to make sure we are confident in our internal processes.”

A customer in Halswell said he was charged for packaging at the seafood counter at New World.

A spokeswoman for Woolworths put the discrepancy down to drip-loss.

“We weigh our chicken at the time of packaging and allow for the weight of the packaging,” she said.

“In the time between the packaging/weighing of the chicken and its sale, there may then be some natural drip that occurs in-pack from the chicken.”

Other companies, such as Bostock Brothers, estimated drip loss and removed this from the weight customers were charged for.

New World staff had been reminded of strict processes for weighing fresh meat, a Foodstuffs spokesman said.

“We take the responsibility of making sure our customers get what they pay for very seriously and have strong processes in place,” the spokesman said.

“We’ve reminded our stores of these processes and are confident our teams are doing the right thing.”

Customers were urged to talk to staff in-store if they were concerned with any weight discrepancies.

Abbey Damen from Consumer NZ said traders had to ensure any representations they make about the products they sell are accurate and not misleading.

“For example, a packet of chicken stating it’s 500g must be 500g,” she said.

Damen said the weight of the packaging was excluded under the Weights and Measures Act.

Kirsty Wynn is an Auckland-based journalist with more than 20 years of experience in New Zealand newsrooms. She has covered everything from crime and social issues to the property market and has a current focus on consumer affairs.