A investigation conducted by The world and the investigation unit of Radio France notes that manufacturers, including Nestlé, have illegally filtered the water mineral in bottle since “many years” and would have hidden it. A third of brands in France would be affected, including Perrier Vittel, Hépar and Contrex. We’ll explain it to you.
Nestlé allegedly illegally filtered mineral water
Produced by The world and the investigation unit of Radio France, this investigation carried out over several months looks at the filtering treatments undergone by bottled water from Nestlé Waters. The group, world number 1 in mineral water, acknowledges having used ultraviolet treatments and of carbon filters on some of its waters. The company justifies this choice to Echoesbefore the publication of the investigation, saying he had “violates the regulations to maintain the security of its waters”.
As journalists from Monde and the investigation unit of Radio France, three types of packaged water are defined by the public health code:
- mineral waters,
- spring waters,
- water made drinkable by treatment.
According to the regulations, “THE Mineral water natural and the spring water are necessarily groundwater, microbiologically healthy, which must be kept protected from any risk of pollution”. Also, the text specifies that “this water can only be subject to a few treatments authorized by regulations (separation of naturally present constituents such as iron or sulfur, in particular), the disinfection of water being prohibited”.
According to an Igas report, the results of which are relayed in the investigation, the sources exploited by Nestlé would be regularly microbiologically contaminated but also by chemical pollutants. Currently, according to the multinational, which answers questions from journalists from Monde and the investigation unit of Radio France, ultraviolet treatments and activated carbon filters have been “removed” from factories. On the other hand, the company says it continues to use microfiltration devices which would “compatible with the regulatory framework”.
Illegally filtered bottled water: what are the health risks?
But what are the health risks? Questioned on this point by The world and the investigation unit of Radio France, Nestlé affirms: “the health safety of our products has always been guaranteed and remains our top priority”. Same story from the Ministry of the Economy which emphasizes that “no health risk linked to the quality of bottled water has not been identified at this stage”. According to Nestlé, the use of certain wells used for the production of Hépar and Contrex are currently “suspended”.
According to a report by inspectors from the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs and Health (Igas) commissioned by the government to “assess the use of treatments not authorized by manufacturers”and cited in the article “if ‘overall’ the level of compliance is high for bottled water, it would not be not prudent to conclude that the health risk is perfectly controlledparticularly microbiological risk”.
In addition, the inspectors add that removing “treatments” which had been used to compensate for a quality defect in the resource is problematic and that “their withdrawal is likely to cause a health risk”. And Igas emphasizes that the use of non-compliant filters “could “expose consumers to a health risk linked to the ingestion of viruses”.
Sources :
- Several bottled water producers have illegally filtered their water to hide contamination – franceinfo (01/30/2024)
- Bottled water: deceptive practices on a large scale – Le Monde (01/30/2024)
- Conditioned water – Ministry of Labor, Health and Solidarity
