How Safe is Your Canned ‘Mineral’ Water?

VIJAYAWADA: Mineral water cans have, of late, become household items and are being delivered just a call away. But, if you are under the impression that the water in these cans is really mineralised and that all the suppliers are authorised, then you are in for a shock.

According to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), there are only 30 authorised packaged drinking water suppliers in Krishna district of which most of the agencies supply only ‘purified water’ but not mineral water.

The latest report compiled by the FSSAI shows that there are about 300 unauthorised packaged drinking water plants in the district, mostly concentrated in Vijayawada. It may be mentioned here that most of the people are switching to mineral water cans due to the impurities in municipal water being supplied to their areas and a few of them are simply ordering the cans, following the trend.

“I have been purchasing the mineral water cans for the last two years since the municipal water lacks quality. The municipal water often has dirt particles and stench, sometimes. I tried different water purifying systems available in the market, but none of them were effective. Hence, I started using the mineral water cans,” said K Lokesh of Vasavi Nagar. A resident of an apartment in Gurunanak Colony said that he started using the cans as everyone in his apartment were ordering for one.

Meanwhile, designated FSSAI officer of the district M Srinivasa Rao said that most of the registered plants just purify the water by RO process and sell them. He says, “Water is called mineral water only after the process of mineralisation, i.e., adding minerals to the water is completed.

But then, almost all the registered water packaging plants in the district are just reverse osmosis (RO) plants, which purify the water and supply after packaging.” The water packaging plant should meet the parameters set by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to become an authorised water packaging agency, and the district has only 30 such plants. The department conducts inspections once every six months to check whether or not the packaged water is meeting the prescribed standards.

A team of food safety officers collected samples from various water packaging plants across the district in May and sent them for analysis. “We sent water samples collected from various places to our lab and found that six plants were manufacturing sub-standard packaged drinking water.

Majority of these six plants are located in Vijayawada followed by Gudivada and Challapalli. Besides, there are 300 unauthorised packaged water units,” he pointed out and added that the cases were registered against the six plants and the verdict was awaited.

Raw treatment

300 Unauthorised packaged drinking water plants identified in Krishna, most of them concentrated in Vijayawada, says FSSAI report

Only 30 RO plants meet the BIS standards in dist