Chinese watchdog finds 23% water being sold in the country substandard

Tests carried out by China’s Food and Drug Administration have found excess bacteria in barrelled water from drinking water companies, including Wahaha, Robust and C’estbon.

The Chinese watchdog tested around 2,088 batches, with 23% of purified drinking water found to be substandard, with most failing to pass the tests for excess bacteria.

The FDA conducted the tests in the second half of this year and results were announced last week, reported Shanghai Daily.

According to the test results, a batch of Wahaha drinking water in 18.9l barrels produced in north China’s Hebei Province in July and sold in Beijing contained 160 CFU (colony forming units) per milliliter which is eight times more than China’s national standard.

Another batch of Robust 18.9l barrels produced in Shijiazhuang, Hebei’s capital had 120 CFU per millimetre, while a batch of C’estbon 18.9l barrels produced in Hebei in July and sold in Beijing was found to contain around 29,000 CFU per millimetre.

In a statement posted on the official Xinhua news agency, Wahaha said it had recalled affected products and cut its supply relationship with the water station where the contamination had occurred.

However, the other two companies were unavailable for comment.

The Beijing and Hebei food and drug administrations said that all the water had been removed from sale and customers had been offered refunds.

A total of 4,881 batches of beverages and drinking water, covering 3,192 producers in 31 provinces, have been tested by the administration, with 791 batches found to be substandard.

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Image: Tests found that 23% of bottled water being sold in China found to contain bacteria. Photo: courtesy of Theeradech Sanin/freedigitalphotos.net.