CERTIFIABLY CORRECT IN PENNSYLVANIA

DENISE ZIMMERMAN

CAMP HILL, Pa. -- In the midst of mounting pressures on pricing integrity a one-of-a-kind accuracy program in Pennsylvania is tackling the problem head-on.

About 150 retailers to date have successfully participated in a voluntary statewide program and been awarded "certified" emblems designed to demonstrate to supermarket customers a firm commitment to pricing integrity and scanning accuracy.

The emblem is issued by the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association, which established the Scan Certification Program. It is considered the only project of its kind.

The program encompasses a wide range of pricing systems and controls that extend beyond just scanning, said Randy St. John, vice president of membership development at PFMA here.

Retailers seeking certification implement the program's standards themselves, St. John explained. When retailers feel they are in full compliance and have reached the prescribed level of accuracy, they then call in PFMA inspectors to conduct audits and issue certification emblems.

"The pressure is still on about scanning, and the retail food industry has to do everything it can to prove to the consumer that we are trying to make everything better," said Scott Yeager, director of retail services at the Philadelphia division of Fleming Cos., Oklahoma City.

"This scan certification program is a major step in that direction," added Yeager.

PFMA's Scan Certification program has drawn the interest of the Office of Weights and Measures, an arm of the Department of Commerce.

The National Conference on Weights and Measures' Working Group on Price Verification, which is charged with developing procedures that states may adopt, borrowed extensively from the guidelines set up by the Pennsylvania program. The group expects to present its fourth draft of examination procedures for all retail segments this fall, with planned implementation in January 1996.