The
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just issued a new set of rules
for bottled water companies: They will soon be required (by Dec. 1st of
this year) to test their source water for bacteria associated with
fecal contamination, such as E. coli, once a week. If a company's source water tests positive for E. coli, coliform
or other bacteria, they must eliminate the contamination and document
how it was eliminated. After that, new, clean samples must be taken
before the water can be sold to the public.
What this means is that bottled water is soon going to be regulated with the same standards as tap water has been under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In the past, the bottled water industry has only been required to test water at bottling, not at the source. Beverages, which include bottled water, are regulated by the Food and Drug administration, not the EPA. When the EPA enacted stricter federal oversight of municipal tap water sources in 2006, the FDA did not follow suit. FDA now wants their regulation of bottled water to be "no less protective of the pubic health than those set by the EPA for public drinking water."
This seems like a logical development but it also goes against the conventional wisdom that bottled water is safer than tap water. Bottled water safety regulations are just now trying to catch up with those already in place for tap water. Lets face it, the reason many of us are willing to pay 100's, if not 1000's of times more for a bottle of water, is often because we think it "must"be cleaner than tap. This development really puts that into question.
What this means is that bottled water is soon going to be regulated with the same standards as tap water has been under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In the past, the bottled water industry has only been required to test water at bottling, not at the source. Beverages, which include bottled water, are regulated by the Food and Drug administration, not the EPA. When the EPA enacted stricter federal oversight of municipal tap water sources in 2006, the FDA did not follow suit. FDA now wants their regulation of bottled water to be "no less protective of the pubic health than those set by the EPA for public drinking water."
This seems like a logical development but it also goes against the conventional wisdom that bottled water is safer than tap water. Bottled water safety regulations are just now trying to catch up with those already in place for tap water. Lets face it, the reason many of us are willing to pay 100's, if not 1000's of times more for a bottle of water, is often because we think it "must"be cleaner than tap. This development really puts that into question.
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