The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced this month in the Enforcement Report that two companies recalled large numbers of bottled drinking water. It was thought that bits of plastic were possibly found inside the bottles.
Safeway recalled 1.6 million cases of Refresh Purified Drinking Water in California, Nevada, and Hawaii. Safeway alerted the FDA about the plastic fragments (some as large as 12 mm in length), on February 9, 2012. The recall is ongoing.
Additionally, 39,000 cases of bottled water were recalled nationwide and in Canada by AquaHydrate last December. It is not clear whether any of the water bottles reached the consumer level, however, this is the first time the FDA has participated in announcing either of these recalls. This recall is ongoing, as well.
It is ironic that the slogan used by Safeway is “enhanced with minerals for fresh taste!” Not sure if the plastic fragments are tasty, but they sure can pose a danger!
Safeway 24-pack 500 ml bottles per case have UPC # 00 021130 24032. The “best by” dates are beginning with 8-26-13 up to and including 1-19-14. The 6-pack bottles have UPC #00 21130 24043. The “best by” dates of 9-23-13, 11-17-13. The 500 ml/16.9 fl. oz. plastic bottle has UPC # 00 21130 24030. The “best by” dates 8-26-13 up to and including 1-19-14. They all have the same designation # of S 8245.
Since the year 2000, spending on bottled water in the United States has more than doubled to almost 12 billion dollars per year, which leads the world in sales, although the French company, Perrier, is generally viewed as the originator of the category (of bottled water) in the 1970’s.
Not only do we have to worry that the bottled water we spend money on, actually is clean, filtered water, as opposed to straight from the tap, we now have to worry that we will get more than just water in the bottle! Glad to see that the FDA is doing its job in protecting the public by announcing these recalls. Even though this is the first time the FDA has joined the companies in the recalls, hopefully, they will continue putting the public’s safety first.
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