Don’t be duped: millilitres are not the same as grammes

By MUNGAI KIHANYA

The Sunday Nation

Nairobi,

25 August 2024

Janerose Nyoike is getting confused by the quantities of dairy products these days. She writes; “I recently noticed that Brookeside Yogurt has some packs showing 450ml and others with 450g. Are these the same thing or is it a case of producers playing games with us? Is there a government regulation on which quantities to be used?”

The straight answers are as follows: no, grammes are no the same thing as millilitres; and yes, there are regulations about quantities to be used on various products. The regulations are contained in the Weights and Measures Act of 1993 (revised 2012).

Unfortunately, this law does not give guidance about yogurt; only milk. If it is less than 5 litres, it is to be sold in volume (either litres or millilitres). For quantities greater that 5L, then it is sold in weight, that is, kilogrammes and grammes. This is the reason why farmers make deliveries to the dairies in kilos and not in litres.

Now, I wrote on this issue in May 2017 and noted that there is a small difference of about 3 per cent between 500ml and 500g of milk. 500ml of milk weighs about 515g. Conversely, 500g of milk occupies about 485ml. In short; the producer is short-changing you by selling 500g instead of 500ml.

As noted in the previous article seven years ago, this is a matter that requires serious attention from the ministry of trade and industry. I also pointed out at the time that this problem is also to be found in toothpaste. I recently found some packets of Colgate labelled 75ml and others 140g. How is one supposed to know which is the bigger quantity?

Unfortunately, the weights and measures act does not give guidance about toothpaste specifically. It only talks about “paste polish” in the list of items to sold by weight. That’s a serious oversight of a product that is used by almost every person who has teeth!

As I scrolled through the weights and measures act, I spotted the section on toilet paper. It says that one roll should have either 230 or 350 sheets with a minimum are of 125 square cm per sheet. Alternatively, it can be 100 or 200 or 300 sheets of minimum 140sq.cm. It would appear that for very long we have been getting the wrong size of toilet paper!