Bottled water: Many products violate quality standards.

(Baonghean.vn) - Twenty-one water samples from 21 bottled drinking water and mineral water production facilities failed quality tests but were still released onto the market for consumers. This is an alarming reality regarding the quality of bottled water in the province today...

Convenient and inexpensive

Bottled drinking water and mineral water are increasingly popular due to their convenience and low cost. Many water producers sell 20-liter bottles for as little as 8,000 VND, or even as low as 6,000-7,000 VND. You can simply sit at home and make a phone call, and in 5 minutes you'll have drinking water – faster than boiling water in an electric kettle. Given this convenience and low cost, the issue of quality needs to be addressed.

It was discovered that the water used by these facilities as raw materials for production and sale on the market is simply tap water or well water. At Loi Phat Production, Trading & Service Co., Ltd., Mr. Phan Cong Truong, the company director, stated that the water used is tap water treated through a modern production line costing nearly 300 million VND, thus ensuring quality. Observing Mr. Truong's facility, we saw that the entire floor was littered with empty water bottles of various brands; workers were washing bottles, labeling, and filling bottles... none of them were equipped with personal protective equipment. When we asked why the bottling process wasn't done in a sterile filling room but instead workers manually pumped water into the bottles, Mr. Truong explained: "Because it's too hot in the room, and we're reluctant to carry things, we do it outside where it's cooler." It is known that his company sells about 150 bottles of water daily, and on hot summer days, sales increase to 350 bottles.

The bottle rinsing process at the Hang Hieu bottled water production facility does not meet quality standards.

The Hang Hieu bottled water production facility (Nghi An commune, Vinh City), although only about 50 square meters in size, is quite tidy. Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu, the owner, readily stated that the water used is from a drilled well and affirmed that the water treatment process is carried out according to strict procedures. First, groundwater is pumped into tanks for sedimentation through gravel, charcoal, and sand. Then, the water is pumped into a production line for rough filtration through three filter tanks: quartz, activated carbon, and ionizer to remove heavy metals; the water is then further filtered through an RO membrane and finally sterilized using ultraviolet (UV) light. “My water production facility mainly serves people in the commune and neighboring communes, at a price of 8,000 VND per bottle. On average, the facility sells more than 300 bottles per day, peaking at 500-700 bottles. To build customer trust and ensure peace of mind, the facility regularly checks water quality every six months and strictly adheres to regulations from relevant authorities,” Mr. Hieu said. However, the workers here do not wear protective clothing; all stages of cleaning bottles, filling water, and labeling are done manually; the reused old bottles are cleaned with soap without disinfection or proper storage to prevent the impact of harmful bacteria...

Handcrafted production

Currently, there are 90 bottled water and mineral water production facilities in the province. Most are small-scale, informal operations, with each facility selling an average of 300-400 20-liter bottles per month. In addition, some facilities also bottle in 350ml and 1.5-liter bottles. Except for a few large, industrial-scale enterprises, most bottled water production facilities utilize residential spaces for production, are not regularly cleaned, and empty bottles from various brands are scattered everywhere. Workers are not provided with protective clothing, and almost all stages, from cleaning bottles to filling, are done manually.

The bottled water production process at Loi Phat Production, Trading & Service Co., Ltd. does not meet hygiene standards.

Most of these production facilities reuse old bottles, while the rinsing, washing, and storage of the bottle casings are not done properly. Many places do not mix disinfectant chemicals to rinse the bottles, but only wash them with soap; and the water taps are not cleaned, accumulating dust and dirt. Meanwhile, the bottle casings and caps should be thoroughly disinfected and sterilized multiple times. Mr. Dao Trong Dung - Head of the Food Safety and Hygiene Sub-Department - acknowledged that poor hygiene at bottled water production facilities in the province is widespread. Specifically, during inspections, the Food Safety and Hygiene Sub-Department discovered many facilities violating production and business conditions. The most common violations were related to hygiene in the production plant and production processes.

Using fake test results containing harmful bacteria.

The inspection team proceeded to collect water samples for testing.

Recently, a joint inter-agency inspection team of the province, acting under Decision No. 2880/QD-UBND, inspected 41 bottled water production facilities in the province. The team collected water samples from 37 facilities for testing at the Institute of Food Safety and Hygiene (Ministry of Health), and the results showed that 21 samples from 21 facilities did not meet quality standards. In addition, the inspection team also discovered that 37 bottled water production facilities were using fake test results.

According to Mr. Nguyen Manh Ha, Chief Inspector of the Department of Science and Technology (Head of the inspection team): bottled water is a product belonging to group 2. According to regulations, water producers must declare conformity with the National Technical Standard: QCVN 6-1: 2010/BYT issued by the Ministry of Health in 2010. To obtain conformity certification, producers must test samples to check the product's compliance with the declared standards and the corresponding technical standard. Specifically, bottled water products must be tested and meet 26 criteria according to the technical standard. Therefore, the use of fake quality test results by bottled water production facilities means that their bottled water products have not been tested but are still being sold to consumers. As a result, for a long time, people have been drinking substandard water without knowing it.

A joint inter-agency inspection team inspects bottled water production facilities in the province.

It is understood that the inter-agency inspection team's choice of bottled drinking water and mineral water for inspection was not random. According to Mr. Nguyen Manh Ha, Chief Inspector of the Department of Science and Technology (Head of the inspection team): Before deciding on the product to inspect, the team conducted surveys and recorded consumer opinions. This revealed that current water quality remains unclear and shows signs of not meeting standards. The fact that the provincial inter-agency inspection team found 21 water samples from 21 production and business establishments to be substandard is alarming. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg, as the inspection team only collected samples from 37 out of 41 establishments during the inspection. As mentioned, according to incomplete statistics, there are more than 90 bottled drinking water production and business establishments in the province. If the team had collected samples from all of these establishments for testing, the number could be even higher.

Another question that arises is, what is the responsibility of the relevant authorities for this incident? And how can consumers identify water that meets quality standards?

Nghe An Newspaper will continue to provide updates to its readers.

Pham Bang