Bottled water ‘not safe for drinking’
A new study has found high level of bacteria in bottled water in Canada.
The Montreal study showed that heterotrophic bacteria counts, in more than 70 per cent of bottled water samples, exceed the recommended limits specified by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP).
Researchers from Ccrest laboratories report their results today at the 110th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in San Diego.
“Despite having the cleanest tap water a large number of urban Canadians are switching over to bottled water for their daily hydration requirements. Unsurprisingly, the consumer assumes that since bottled water carries a price tag, it is purer and safer than most tap water,” says Sonish Azam, a researcher on the study.
Regulatory bodies such as Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Health Canada have not set a limit for the heterotrophic bacteria counts in bottled drinking water.
However, according to the USP not more than 500 colony forming units (cfu) per milliliter should be present in drinking water.
The study was initiated in response to a Ccrest employee’s complaint of fowl taste and sickness after consumption of bottled water at the company.
Azam and her colleagues randomly purchased several brands of bottled water from a local marketplace and subjected them to microbiological analysis.
They discovered more than 70 per cent of famous brands tested did not meet the USP specifications for drinking water.
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