FDA closes packaged drinking water plant

PUNE: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials on Thursday closed down a packaged drinking water plant in Baner for operating without mandatory licences.

As per the norms, licences from the Bureau of Indian Standard(BIS) and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) are prerequisites to run a packaged drinking water plant.

“The plant was shut down after we found that it was operating without necessary licences. The owner has been directed to keep the plant closed till all the required conditions are fulfilled,” SS Desai, joint commissioner (food), FDA, Pune, told TOI.

The increased demand for processed drinking water, especially during summer, has resulted in proliferation of packaged drinking water plants. To make easy money, some plant owners compromise on the quality of water, which can put people’s lives at risk, FDA officials said.

FDA had drawn 136 samples of packaged drinking water from Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Aurangabad, Amaravati, Nagpur and Pune between March 1, 2016 and April 31, 2017. Of them, 48 samples were found to be of poor quality and labels on some of the bottles were found tampered. Of the 15 samples found unsafe, five were drawn from Mumbai, four from Pune, three from Nashik, two from Aurangabad and one from Amaravati.

“The samples from Pune were detected with rod-shaped bacteria, exposure to which can cause abdominal cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting,” Desai said.