The Shadow
Richmond, Va. – The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) joins national organizations in recognizing two celebrations of consumer protection standards this March. National Weights and Measures Week is recognized each year from March 1 – 7, and National Consumer Protection Week falls on March 2 – 8, 2025.
VDACS’ Office of Weights and Measures (OWM) is responsible for assuring that weighing and measuring devices used in commercial transactions in the Commonwealth are accurate and operate correctly. OWM staff perform inspections throughout the state and the program’s Metrology Laboratory is nationally accredited.
National Weights and Measures Week commemorates the first national law that provided states with a set of weights and measures standards, to protect the interests of buyers and sellers of commodities. The Office of Weights and Measures is part of VDACS’ Division of Consumer Protection, which also includes the offices of Charitable and Regulatory Programs, Pesticide Services, and Plant Industry Services.
“VDACS is committed to protecting consumers through accuracy, safety, and transparency,” said Joseph Guthrie, Commissioner of VDACS. “Inaccuracies can mean overpayments by consumers or the loss of products and profits for businesses. VDACS Weights and Measures checks gas pumps, large capacity truck scales, livestock scales, packaged goods and scanners, among many others, while our other Division of Consumer Protection offices protect a wide range of consumer interests.”
In Fiscal Year 2024, the VDACS Office of Weights and Measures performed the following activities:
- Conducted 9,790 calibrations of standards of mass and volume for industry and government, including radar tuning forks.
- Conducted 91,518 tests of weighing and measuring equipment and rejected 20,902 for inaccuracies.
- Collected and tested 3,345 samples of motor fuels to verify octane ratings, check for the presence of water in the fuel, amount of ethanol added and compliance with other standards.
- Conducted point-of-sale price verification inspections of 58,742 items using store check-out scanners.
- Verified the accurate weighing of 20,140 store-wrapped packaged items.
Other highlights of how VDACS protects consumers include:
- Food safety inspectors ensure that food and dietary supplements in Virginia are safe and properly labeled. Food establishments that manufacture, process, pack or hold food for sale such as convenience stores, grocery stores, frozen dessert shops and seafood markets receive regular periodic inspections in accordance with Virginia food laws and related regulations.
- Meat and poultry inspectors ensure the production of safe and truthfully labeled meat and poultry products, and verify that livestock is processed humanely.
- The Office of Pesticide Services registers more than 15,000 pesticide products in Virginia each year, licenses more than 2,200 pesticide businesses and certifies more than 20,000 pesticide applicators to provide for the effective control of plants and pests that may negatively affect crops, structures and health.
- The Office of Plant Industry Services inspects more than 7,000 acres of nursery stock at more than 2,200 nurseries to prevent the spread of weeds, insects, and other disease pests. The office also registers and inspects agricultural commodities such as animal feed, seed, fertilizer, and lime products.
- The Milk Commission licenses all processors and distributors of fluid milk products to ensure everyone has a constant, available and reasonably priced supply of milk.
- Organizations that solicit contributions in Virginia or have funds solicited on their behalf, must register with VDACS prior to any solicitation. The agency investigates consumer complaints and maintains a public database of the more than 12,000 registered charitable organizations.
- The Office of Charitable and Regulatory Programs is responsible for issuing and renewing charitable gaming permits to organizations, as well as the regulation of charitable gaming activities in the Commonwealth. They also perform on-site training and operational inspections of bingo events, electronic gaming terminals, and Texas Hold’em Poker Tournaments, and initiate compliance audits of organizations that conduct charitable gaming.
- VDACS staff advise consumers and act as a resource for consumer complaint resolution for businesses that offer extended service contracts, credit services, health club contracts, campground memberships, prepaid legal services plan sellers, fantasy sports, and travel club contracts.
