Are Walmart customers getting overcharged for misweighed meats?

A Georgia man has gone viral for a series of TikTok videos where he says mislabeled meats at three Walmarts led some shoppers to be charged more than double what they should have paid.

In the first video, uploaded on Jan. 17, Jimmy Wrigg shows an unknown brand of chicken breasts with a price of $19.20 at a store in Commerce, Georgia. Wrigg questions the 4.66 pounds on the label.

When he weighs the package on a nearby scale, it comes to 2.37 pounds. At $4.12 per pound, the price should have been $9.76, a difference of $9.44.

Wrigg told USA TODAY he suspected something was off.

"I'm very frugal," Wrigg, who lives outside Atlanta and drives for Uber and DoorDash, said. "I watch every penny."

What are Jimmy Wrigg's videos about?

On subsequent shopping trips, Wrigg says he found similar discrepancies at two other Walmart locations, both in Buford, Georgia. In his most-viewed video, which has 9.8 million views as of Feb. 5, he weighs seven Kentucky Legend brand hams at one of the Buford stores.

Wrigg takes a 2-pound dumbbell from the sporting goods section and puts it on the scale to show the scale is calibrated correctly. It shows 2.02 pounds.

Wrigg found most of the hams were similar to the first he weighed: The label said 4.93 pounds and a cost of $24.55, but it actually was 1.83 pounds and should have cost $9.11 – or $15.44 less than the sticker price.

Walmart, Kentucky Legend respond to weight, price miscalculations

At least one of the meat manufacturers, Kentucky Legend, posted a statement on its website admitting an error at a store, but not the one that Wrigg had visited.

It said there were weight discrepancies with its Brown Sugar Honey Ham at a Walmart in Commerce, Georgia.

"Our investigation confirmed that this error was isolated to a 5-minute window on a single production date. As a result, we've reinforced our processes and safeguards to ensure accurate pricing going forward," the statement read.

"We take full responsibility to fix the problem and pledge to make it right to those impacted customers," the statement continued. "Customers affected by the pricing error can email [email protected]."

It is unclear when the statement was posted. Kentucky Legend did not respond to a USA TODAY inquiry for more information, including how many hams were affected and whether they were in more than the one store.

A Walmart spokesperson directed USA TODAY to Kentucky Legend's statement and told USA TODAY on Feb. 3 that any impacted Kentucky Legend product was removed from shelves the previous week. The spokesperson also said customers can return the product to Walmart for a refund.

The spokesperson declined to answer several other questions, including an explanation for apparently incorrectly weighed chicken and prime rib Wrigg found, which were not the Kentucky Legend brand.

Walmart settled a $45 million lawsuit in 2024 regarding grocery weights

Walmart has had issues with grocery weights in the past.

In 2024, Walmart agreed to a $45 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit that claimed the retailer charged customers more than it should have for weighted groceries. According to the settlement FAQs, the litigation had to do with per unit prices of weighted citrus and shelf tags that displayed a weight that was higher. For other weighted goods, such as meats, the plaintiff alleged when an item's shelf price was lowered, it was not reflected at checkout.

The 2024 class action suit dealt with a different issue than the one Wrigg says he found, Kimberly Donaldson-Smith, lead counsel for the plaintiff, told USA TODAY.

“The conduct that appears in the videos, as it has been described to us, is not what the settled case involved," Donaldson-Smith said in an email.

Food economist explains how meats are weighed and labeled

Who weighs and labels meat products depends on the retailer-manufacturer relationship, said David Ortega, a food economist and professor at Michigan State University. For many prepackaged branded meats, the products arrive at the store already weighed and labeled, Ortega told USA TODAY. Some retailers may add shelf tags or price stickers, he said.

Ortega said since manufacturers often supply multiple retailers, a mislabeled item would likely show up at multiple grocers.

"Meat processing plants run high‑volume automated lines, and even a brief calibration or software error can mislabel a large number of units before anyone notices," he said.

Most issues are "unintentional and stem from equipment errors, system glitches, or human error rather than deliberate fraud," Ortega said, adding that there are strict laws that only allow for small deviations in weights.

However, Ortega added, "the discrepancies shown in the videos, at nearly twice the actual weight, are quite substantial and beyond what is typically allowed. Consumers have a right to receive what they pay for, and accuracy in weights and measures is very important."

What is Wrigg's reaction to Walmart, Kentucky Legend responses?

Wrigg said he was happy Kentucky Legend acknowledged an error, but he has more questions. Wrigg told USA TODAY he was disappointed that Walmart would not acknowledge what he sees as a bigger problem with the labeling and pricing of meat products beyond Kentucky Legend.

His nine TikTok videos have been viewed by more than 20 million people as of Feb. 5. He said many of his TikTok followers are reporting finding similar weight and price discrepancies among meats and other products at Walmarts in their states, and at other retailers. One follower who said he worked at a Walmart in Michigan said he'd found mislabeled Kentucky Legend hams there.

It's unfair that consumers have to investigate and report these errors, Wrigg says. He has filed a complaint with his local weights and measures department but has not heard back.

"They keep putting it on us to figure it out, and it shouldn't be our problem," he said.

Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] or follow her on X, Facebook or Instagram @blinfisher and @blinfisher.bsky.social on Bluesky. Sign up for our free The Daily Money newsletter, which breaks down complex consumer and financial news. Subscribe here.