Bottled water market instability

“Gold and brass mixed together”

Bottled drinking water, or bottled water, has long been a familiar necessity for consumers. However, besides the advantages of price and convenience, bottled drinking water is also causing insecurity for “customers”.

In the current market, it can be said that there is a whole forest of bottled and jarred water brands that make it difficult for consumers to distinguish which products are safe, harmless to health, and which are "fake" and dangerous to use. In fact, due to the high demand, there are many establishments producing bottled water products. Besides the brands that have established a position, creating peace of mind for consumers such as Lavie, Aquafina..., there are also many other bottled water products on the market. In Da Nang City, as well as some other localities in the Central region, it can be seen that besides reputable branded bottled water products, there are still many bottled water products of other small establishments, with a variety of types, designs, and sizes, "available wherever ordered" to serve the needs of consumers. It is worth mentioning that on the labels of these products, the manufacturer affirms that they are produced and bottled using modern technology, meeting international standards.

However, in reality, this international standard is very difficult to verify and many cases of bottled water production using "modern technology", but in fact, it is done manually, causing unsafety and affecting the health of "customers" have been exposed and named. Recently, the Son Tra District Police (Da Nang City) coordinated with functional forces to discover that the "Anh & Em" bottled water production facility of An Phuoc Company had many violations of food hygiene and safety. Specifically, the functional forces discovered that at this bottled water production facility, the wastewater drainage was stagnant. The bottled water bottling area was not separated from other areas. This production facility was also not equipped with an air disinfection system. Walls, ceilings, floors in production, business and storage areas are leaking, cracked and moldy. Direct workers do not meet food safety knowledge requirements...

Previously, according to a representative of Da Nang City Police, the city police also suspended the operation of a bottled water production facility using... well water. Specifically, when inspecting the bottled water production facility of Tam Binh Production and Trading Company Limited in Hoa Vang District. The authorities discovered that this facility was producing bottled water directly using the facility's underground water source. Meanwhile, regulations require that the production of bottled water must use tap water. In the neighboring locality of Quang Nam, authorities have also discovered many bottled water production facilities in the province violating food safety and hygiene. The authorities even discovered that workers at a bottled water production facility in Phu Ninh District were scrubbing and rinsing water bottles with... their hands.

Tighten the production of bottled water

As mentioned above, bottled or jarred water is becoming a necessity in households. However, the management of this item is facing difficulties, leading to a chaotic situation in the bottled water market. The consequences of this problem are very serious as it directly affects the health of consumers nationwide. Therefore, it is time for the authorities to take more drastic measures to stabilize the market, including resolutely closing down substandard production facilities.

The production of bottled or jarred water is specifically regulated in Article 13, Decree No. 67/2016/ND-CP of the Government on the conditions for production and trading of food under the specialized management of the Ministry of Health. In particular, the product bottling area must be closed, separate from other areas, and have an air sterilization system; Sterilization, disinfection of products, disinfection of packaging with specialized equipment using ultraviolet technology, ozone technology or other technologies but does not affect the quality and safety of products... The regulations are like that, but in reality, not all production facilities strictly comply with and fully meet the criteria. In fact, at many small-scale bottled water production facilities, due to many factors, especially limited financial resources, it is very difficult to ensure technology, to produce products that meet hygiene and safety requirements. Meanwhile, with the naked eye, it is very difficult for consumers to distinguish whether bottled water products are of guaranteed quality or not. And if using contaminated drinking water products, it will be very harmful to the health of consumers. When drinking directly from poor quality bottled water, users will be exposed to heavy metals, microorganisms, and even other harmful organisms. It is worth mentioning that, faced with the mixed matrix of real and fake packaged water, many consumers still have a subjective mentality, or choose cheap products that fit their budget without paying attention to the quality, brand, origin of the goods... To protect the health of consumers, the authorities have increased the inspection of bottled and jarred water production facilities. 

From there, promptly detect violations and warn people through the mass media. In particular, for unqualified production facilities, it is necessary to resolutely request closure and not allow them to continue production and business. As for the "kings", to protect their family's health, they also need to equip themselves with knowledge about counterfeit goods when buying bottled and pre-packaged drinking water. Meanwhile, the bottled water market is still "mixed with gold and brass", so they should choose to buy products from reputable brands that have established a position in the market.

Source: thoibaonganhang.vn