Bottled mineral water scam

The Consumers' Association of Penang (CAP) in Malaysia uncovered a bottled mineral water scam.

Would you buy mineral water if the picture on the bottle shows an industrial estate or an oil palm plantation?

Well that picture may be more accurate than the common images of snow-capped mountains, green forests and bubbling brooks.

A survey by the Consumer’s Association of Penang (published in 1994) found that at least 16 brands of mineral water bottled in Malaysia come from polluted areas.

Six brands produced by one company in Selangor come from a man-made bore hole in an oil palm estate, where oil palms are regularly sprayed with pesticides.

CAP officers found the area surrounded by drains filled with wastes from an oil palm factory. There is also a pond filled with effluent waste and a garbage dump at the back of the factory.

One source, 49 brands

Another 10 brands of bottled mineral water were found to come from a bore whole smack in the middle of an industrial estate. In the vicinity is a rubber testing laboratory and a smelting factory.

It is not known how deep the bore holes are. But it is likely that pollutants from the surrounding areas could seep into the ground to reach the underground water supplies.

CAP notes that in Europe, for example, water has to meet strict criteria before they can be labeled as natural mineral water. The water has to be well protected from possible sources of pollution and regular tests have to be done to ascertain the water’s purity, mineral content and other factors.

In Malaysia, however, anyone can extract “mineral water” from any source, provided the Health Ministry approves. But the Ministry has not set any requirements or criteria.

Instead, the law only states that the Director of Health Services may impose any conditions relating to the source, extraction, collection, preparation, processing and packaging of the water, “as he thinks fit”.

Also, European laws disallow water from the same source to be sold under different brands. Malaysian laws are silent on this. And CAP found one company in Negri Sembilan which sells 49 brands of bottled mineral water from the same source.

That’s not all. Although the bottled mineral water comes from the same source, information on the labels suggest that the different brands contain different amounts of minerals!