3 out of 10 manufacturers of packaged drinking water are flouting safety norms. Not so pure, maybe?

How safe is your bottle of packaged drinking water? 

New Delhi: Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution CR Chaudhary on Tuesday furnished a statement in the Lok Sabha where he said that three out of the ten units of mineral water sold across the country have been found to be contaminated.

This shocking revelation is expected to have a long-lasting effect on India's multi-billion dollar packaged water industry.

While replying to a question in the lower house of parliament, Chaudhary claimed that the discovery was the result of an exercise undertaken by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI). As part of the exercise, FSSAI tested 743 samples of packaged water in 2016-2017 and found that 224 or almost a third of the total number of samples failed to meet safety standards that the products are expected to meet.

According to a report by The Business Standard, FSSAI, upon discovering the violation of safety standards, filed cases against 131 manufacturers of packaged drinking water. As a result, 33 were convicted while penalties were slapped on 40 of such manufacturers.

Guidelines issued by FSSAI deem a product to be 'safe packaged drinking water' only if it is disinfected to an extent where it does not adversely affect health once it is acquired from the sources.

However, manufacturers of packaged drinking water were found not only violating norms set by the FSSAI but also flouting Bureau of Indian Standards (ISI) 'standard mark' guidelines.

Representatives of the government have confirmed the same by saying that the bureau received acted on 23 complaints about packaged drinking water till February 2018.

However, food and beverage regulators have also prodded a possible presence of multiple heavy metals beyond permissible levels in packaged drinking water manufactured by such companies which have also been accused of selling their product without a BIS mark which constituted a cognizable offense on the part of the vendor.

Products manufactured by such companies also lack essential minerals, said Chaudhary.

During raids conducted in the wake of such violations of both FSSAI and ISI norms, 192 search-and-seizure drives were launched at bottling units across the country. The drive lasted three years, concluding in February of the current year.

With the intention of empowering the consumer and introducing transparency in the packaged drinking water industry, the FSSAI has launched an online portal where consumers can compare test reports of packaged drinking water including physical, chemical and microbiological information, added Chaudhary.