Two islandwide inspection drives by the Consumer Affairs Authority have found 89 cases of bread sold below the prescribed weight, across a combined 225 shops and bakeries.
In the most recent operation, CAA officers inspected 107 shops and bakeries and recorded 35 cases of underweight bread, the authority said. Of those premises, 71 were bakeries, according to the Daily Mirror.
Inspectors also found display failures on a far larger scale than the weight breaches themselves: 85 premises had not displayed the weight of the bread they were selling, and 55 had not clearly displayed prices.
That operation was carried out on 29 September, Hiru News reported, with the findings released publicly on Sunday. It followed a first round of raids conducted from 1 to 3 September, which covered 118 shops and bakeries — 81 of them bakeries — and detected 54 underweight cases.
Enforcement to be traced back to producers
The CAA said officers have been instructed not to stop at the retail counter. Where underweight bread is found on sale, investigations are to be extended back to the bakery that produced it.
Bakeries confirmed to be producing bread below the prescribed weight must immediately correct their production process, the authority said. Where sufficient evidence exists, it intends to institute legal action before the relevant Magistrate’s Courts.
The authority said the raids would continue, describing the supply of correctly weighted bread and the accurate display of weight and price as a legal responsibility of bakery owners and traders.
The two rounds compared
| 1–3 September | 29 September | |
|---|---|---|
| Premises inspected | 118 | 107 |
| Of which bakeries | 81 | 71 |
| Underweight cases | 54 | 35 |
| Weight not displayed | — | 85 |
| Price not displayed | — | 55 |
The detection rate fell between the rounds, from 54 cases in 118 premises to 35 in 107. Neither the CAA nor either outlet offered an explanation for the drop, and the two operations covered different premises, so the figures are not a like-for-like measure of compliance.
Under the gazetted standard, a full loaf must weigh 450 grammes — a figure neither of Sunday’s reports restated, but which was set out when LankaNewz covered the first round of raids in September.
Not reported
Neither account says how far below 450g the detected loaves fell, nor gives any figure for fines already imposed. No bakery or trader was named in either report, and no case has yet been reported as filed in court.
Bread weight sits alongside a run of recent CAA enforcement, including islandwide raids on substandard plastic and baby feeding bottles in late September and a Rs. 1 million fine against a Bambalapitiya restaurant for selling bottled water above the maximum retail price.
A note for readers searching this story: “CAA finds underweight bread in islandwide raids” is a headline the authority generates repeatedly. The September and October rounds are separate operations with separate figures; the reliable discriminator is the inspection date paired with the premises count.
