Consumer Protection
From city to suburb and farm to forest, the Missouri Department of Agriculture is watching out for your interests. We consider consumer protection one of our primary roles. Our programs ensure safe, quality products and accuracy of commercial transactions. You’ll find us at the gas pump, grain elevator, grocer’s freezer and greenhouse. Every division has a role in the consumer protection effort. Here’s a closer look at how each division protects consumers:
Weights and Measures Division interacts with consumers more often than any other division. Every time you check out at a grocery store, take a ride in a taxi, buy a pound of hamburger or fill your vehicle with gas, the Weights and Measures Division makes sure you get what you paid for. As the state’s official keeper of standards of mass, volume and length, the division is charged with ensuring that when you buy a gallon of detergent, you get a gallon of detergent, or when you buy a yard of fabric, you get just that. Division staff inspects large and small scales, timing devices, thermometers, grain moisture meters, milk for determination and prepackaged merchandise, to ensure every transaction is a fair deal both for the buyer and seller. In addition, the division’s Fuel Quality Program ensures that service stations post correct octane levels on pumps and each year analyze about 10,000 fuel samples for quality. The division’s Petroleum Program performs safety checks on service stations, propane storage facilities and petroleum and propane delivery trucks. Finally, the division annually conducts egg inspections to ensure quality and proper grading.
The Grain Inspection and Warehousing Division’s ensures that Missouri grain standards meet uniform worldwide standards. These standards guarantee that Missouri’s consumers receive quality products at affordable prices by assuring that Missouri grain is up to standard and markets are safe from unscrupulous dealers. The division is composed of two programs: the Grain Inspection Program and the Grain Regulatory Services Program. The Grain Inspection Program provides sampling, inspection, weighing and analysis of grains to assign grades and assess and check the products are in the amount, and as wholesome, as represented. The Grain Regulatory Services Program, which enforces the state’s Grain Warehouse Law, licenses, bonds, audits and regulates Missouri grain warehouses. The warehouse law ensures that grain depositors deal with reputable and solvent businesses.
If you’re purchasing any of a variety of plant products — from animal feed to treated planking for your deck — you can be assured that the department’s Plant Industries Division is making sure you receive a quality product. The division’s Bureau of Feed and Seed ensures that feeds contain the nutrient levels their labels claim and that seed label claims are accurate relative to purity, germination and other factors. Further, division staff inspects Missouri greenhouses and nurseries checking for destructive insects and diseases, which help to ensure the plants you purchase survive in your yard or garden. To help promote the long life and safety of your deck, retaining wall, or other treated wood product, the division also regulates and tests treated lumber products. Keeping the environment clean and assuring the safety of plants and food is the primary concern of the Bureau of Pesticide Control. The bureau ensures that Missouri pesticide applicators are licensed and that pesticides are properly used and labeled. The bureau also investigates pesticide misuse.
Animal & Animal Products
The department also ensures food safety through the work of the Animal Health Division’s Food Safety and Quality Assurance Program and through the programs of the State Milk Board. As Missourians grow more concerned with food safety, the Animal Health Division staff work to keep the state’s animal and food production free from disease. They strive to educate meat producers on the best methods of producing wholesome, quality products, and to inform the public about overall safety of the food produced by the industry. The State Milk Board ensures that milk quality standards are met throughout the production and distribution process. Through the Fluid Milk Law, and the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance, board staff conducts the state’s Grade A and manufacturing grade milk sanitation programs.
Clearly, the Missouri Department of Agriculture is a leader in protecting Missouri consumers.