KMC officials to visit manufacturing plants of packaged water brands

Kolkata: Food safety officers of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will soon visit the manufacturing plants of a leading packaged water brand to check whether there are loopholes in the manufacturing process of the company.

The decision of the civic body has been prompted after a top official of a leading packaged water brand met Member Mayor in Council (health) Atin Ghosh on Monday and claimed that some companies are faking their brand and are selling packaged water using their brand name.

The food safety officers of the KMC have checked samples collected from retailers of some leading brands and have stumbled upon coliform bacteria in the samples of three leading packaged water brands.

Packaged drinking water has come under the scanner of the civic body after some people were affected with water borne diseases in a few wards in the south suburban division of the city.

"We will soon visit the two manufacturing plants of the leading packaged water company located at Salap in Howrah and Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas and will collect samples from the source.

We will compare those samples with the ones that we have procured from the retailer selling packaged water of the same brand to check whether the claim of the official is correct," Ghosh said.

The top official of the packaged water company who met Ghosh said their product is being faked and they have complained to the food safety officers and enforcement branch officials at their own district level but no action has been taken.

The official was directed to submit a written complaint to the KMC by Tuesday stating their views.

Mayor Sovan Chatterjee will hold a meeting with the top officials of Enforcement Branch on Wednesday where a strategy will be framed on how to go forward in taking punitive steps against spurious packaged drinking water manufacturers.

Meanwhile, KMC is sending letter to two other leading packaged water companies who have not yet contacted the civic body after

irregularities were found in its samples that were procured from retailers.