To honor the hard work of all weights and measures officials, including those housed at the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA), Gov. Mike DeWine has declared the week of March 1-7 Ohio Weights and Measures Week.
Weights and measures officials work to both protect consumers and provide fair competition among businesses. Weights and Measures Week is celebrated at the beginning of March each year to commemorate John Adams signing the first United States weights and measures law on March 2, 1799.
Today ODA’s Division of Weights and Measures works daily with county and city officials to ensure the accuracy of devices ranging from retail store scanners to gas pumps to livestock scales, to name a few. The division is also home to one of only four National Type Evaluation Program laboratories in the nation, which tests and evaluates new scale designs and technology, and Ohio’s Metrology Laboratory, which houses the state’s standards for mass, length and volume.
“We want Ohioans to understand the important work our state’s weights and measures experts perform each and every day to ensure a fair and accurate marketplace,” said Ohio Agriculture Director Dorothy Pelanda. “We work closely with our state’s businesses to make sure their equipment is in working order and we reach our shared end goal: The customer gets what they pay for.”
For more information about the department’s Division of Weights and Measures, visit www.agri.ohio.gov.