Watchdog warns over bread weight

The baker breached the Weights and Measures Act 1985

Bakeries in Powys have been urged to "use their loaf" after one baker was fined for selling bread that was not the correct weight.

The county's trading standards said the guilty bread-maker did not have a system in place to weigh the product before it was sold to the public.

He was fined £2,750 and ordered to pay £750 costs at Welshpool Magistrates' Court for selling loaves under weight.

The council said the baker had breached the Weights and Measures Act 1985.

Under the law, loaves of bread are required to be either 400 grammes or 800 grammes, but officers found larger loaves weighed as little as 748 grammes.

Magistrates were told that an officer from trading standards visited the baker, from north Powys, on three separate occasions to find that bread was not the correct weight.

Graham Brown, council board member responsible for public protection, said: "The bakery had plenty of opportunity to put their house in order but took no regard of advice offered by the officers.

"Weights and measures is the cornerstone of consumer protection."

The baker was fined at a court hearing last month, said the council.