More than a year after a survey of milk quality pointed out adulteration, it is bottled water which is now under scanner. Following apprehensions and complaints related to the safety of bottled water available in the marker the Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has asked the Food Safety and Standards of India (FSSAI) to test if it complies to the set standards.
In his letter sent on Friday, the health minister asked the food regulatory to lift samples of bottled water irrespective of their brands for testing for its safety and purity. The minister has asked for the report to be submitted within a month.
Officials in the health ministry disclosed that action has been taken after the minister received enormous complaints alleging that several well-known brands are using impure water, use chemicals, packed and sold it in the market. The minister has asked the FSSAI to depute teams to visit water purification units and sites of water collection, for lifting samples to assess the extent of chemicals used and whether they are under permissible limits and safe for human consumption.
“There are drinking water standards by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) which are mandatory to be adhered to by the manufacturers. We will start drawing samples and ask the state governments too to check for the safety of water, once we get the minister’s letter,” K. Chandramouli, chairman, FSSAI told this newspaper.
Earlier in 2012 the FSSAI had found out that as much as 70 per cent of the milk samples picked up from Delhi failed to conform to the set standards. Of the 71 samples lifted randomly from Delhi for testing by the food regulatory body, 50 were found to be contaminated with glucose and skim milk powder. In 33 states and UTs, the study revealed milk was adulterated with detergent, fat and urea.
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