Think before you drink water from cans

Packaged brands need to improve quality, finds survey by organisation

Many brands of packaged drinking water, popular among urban population, do not have proper labels or foolproof packaging, revealed a sample survey conducted by Concert Trust, a voluntary consumer organisation.

Packaged drinking water has become easily accessible now to bridge the gap of piped water supply. But, such source of water may not be necessarily safe for drinking, note members of Concert Trust, a sister organisation of Consumers Association of India (CAI).

A total of 12 brands procured from four southern States were tested for packaging, labelling, quality and user perception. Parrys, Vodaa Fresh and Caissy were among the brands tested in Tamil Nadu.

Of the 12 samples, labels on five were not readable. There was no proper information on market retail price or date of manufacture or batch number in 90% of the brands tested.

G. Santhanarajan, CAI director (foods), said the pH level in eight samples was less than the prescribed level of 6.5 indicating high acidic nature. Similarly, some of the tested brands like Aquapride and Maxima had more aerobic microbial count and presence of coliform was also detected.

“Most of the bubble top cans had dents and scratches. Statutory warning like crush the bottle after the use were not visibly printed even in containers of popular brands. We found that some brands that were given ‘Stop Manufacture’ notices by Bureau of Indian Standards were in market,” he said.

Consumers must insist on monthly bill for the packaged drinking water supplied and also check the licence of brand supplied with the list available on BIS website.