Has anyone else noticed that Ribena comes in 288ml containers. I find this deeply strange. Now, we all know that 288 is twice a gross, yet it is also 10 1/7floz.

Why was such a strange figure chosen for Ribena? Does anyone know?

What is Ribena?

Is that a joke? Ribena is a very famous and succesful type of cordial. Made by GlaxoSmithKline.

Bryan,

If you had spent any time abroad you would realise that Bud's question was perfectly valid. Not every product is marketed in every country.

IS that right, Martin? :p Of course I know that, thank you, but I thought Ribena was an internationally known brand.. like kleenex.

anyway, back to the issue at hand.

I checked the Rbena website - Ribena is sold in 14 countries (Counting the "Carribean" and the "Middle East" each as one country). See
http://www.ribena.com/flash_index.html

As for Kleenex, they have a North American website, an Austrialia website and websites in 12 European countries. (See http://www.kleenex.com/home.htm). Again, assuming that everybody worldwide knows about Kleenex is an exageration.

Bryan, in the US it is not all that uncommon for products to come in odd sizes. A couple of examples straight from my kitchen:
Skittles candy: 2.17 oz/61.5 g
Sadaf Rosewater: 12.7 fl oz/375 mL

Considering that most people don't note these labels when they go shopping, I don't think it is that big of a deal for companies to make odd sizes.

Strange. You might as well not mark it if it isn't going ot be in a "normal" size. anyway, thanks for that, Bud.

Prior to metrication, it was common in the UK for packets of food to be labeled 15 3/4 oz. THis was because UK legislation required that each tin contained *at least* the stated quantity and the manufacturers were giving themselves a 1/4 os leeway.

EU legislation is different. If a container says that it contains 500g, then *on average*, that batch of containers must contain 500g.

My understanding is that the reason for 15 3/4 oz was because they were converting from 454g (16 oz) to 450g, hence the reduction of a quarter of an ounce.

15 3/4oz is a rational size, though. 2.17oz is not.

BWMA wrote

<<
My understanding is that the reason for 15 3/4 oz was because they were converting from 454g (16 oz) to 450g, hence the reduction of a quarter of an ounce.
>>


I recall seeing 15 3/4 oz in the 1970's, well before the products in question were actually metricated.

So pre-EU UK law allowed containers to contain more than stated? This may cause problems for someone who is following a recipe, if the recipe calls for the same amount that the label states but it contains more.

Bryan, I cannot follow your logic that they might as well not label if the sizes are not rounded. Could you explain that?

Bud wrote

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So pre-EU UK law allowed containers to contain more than stated?
>>

Bud what do you mean by more? If I get an accurate enough balance, I can always show that the label on the outside of the packet in incorrect. For example, if the label stated "1kg" and I weighed out the contents as being 1.001kg, could I complain that it had been incorrectly labled? If it weighed 0.999kg?

Under the pre-EU UK law, I could have complained if the contents was 0.999kg, but not if it was 1.001kg. You may rest assured that manufacturers did their best not to exceed the stated amount by too much - it was always a balancing act between the cost of accuratre weighing and the savings by shaving a few grams of the average amount in the packet/tin/whatever.

Under EU law, the avarage weight of any batch must equal or exceed the stated weight. EU law goes on to state the maximum amoutn by which any single item may be underweight. FOr example, if the stated weight on a packet of sugar is 1kg, then the average weight of sugar in the batch must be not less than 1kg, but individual packets may be less that that amount provided that the weight does not fall below 980g (Assuming that the allowance for 1kg packets of sugar is 2%).

Bud, I was being silly. It just seems natural to have round figures to work from. For example, I buy a lot of ingredients in 14floz (400ml) tins [sometimes the other way round]; like, why not have a packet of crisps (or whatever), in binary fractions and multiples of the ounce. What is this .17 stuff?

IT just seems this US policy is exceptionally strange.

By the way, I had a Burger King earlier- the onion ring bucket was marked '16oz' [no metric] and the drin kwas marked '32oz' [also no metric]