Oscar Mayer to pay $14,000 in fines for light packages

After state inspectors found several short-weight "soft packages" of Oscar Mayer ham at various Wisconsin stores, the company has agreed to pay almost $14,000 in fines and install scales at its Iowa meat processing plant, according to a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The packages in question were found last summer at Walmarts in Beloit, Dodgeville, Plover, Watertown, Waukesha, and Wisconsin Rapids and at a Piggly Wiggly store in Racine. All were short of the 20 ounces advertised on the packages, and some of the packages were as much as 12% short of the promised weight.

It marked the third time in the past two years that weights and measures inspectors in the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection have found Oscar Mayer meat packages that weighed less than advertised, which is a violation of state law.

As part of a corrective action plan, the company will invest roughly $10 million to purchase scales for the Iowa plant.