Packaged water under FDA scanner

PUNE: Samples drawn from three bottled water plants in Maval and Mulshi talukas last month were found to be substandard and not conforming to the labelling standards, officials of the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) stated on Wednesday. FDA officials had conducted raids on the plants and found that they were operating without licence.
Licences from the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) are prerequisites to run a packaged drinking water plant.
Members of Maharashtra Association of Bottled Water Manufacturers have claimed that several bottled water plants are being run illegally across the state. They have alleged that FDA officials are unable to supervise the work of every plant as they are short-staffed and overburdened. They have decided to hold an agitation towards the end of this month and surrender their licences to FDA in protest.
"We had closed down the erring plants located in Maval and Mulshi talukas when we conducted raids on July 8. Samples taken from their plants have now been found to be substandard and not conforming to the labelling standards of Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Hence, we will take criminal action against one plant wherein the water samples were substandard. The other two plant owners will have to pay the penalty for not conforming to labelling standards," said SS Desai, joint commissioner (food), FDA, Pune told TOI.
SM Deshmukh, assistant commissioner (food), FDA added, "Earlier, we had taken ten samples from packaged drinking plants operational in Pune district between April 1, 2015, and March 31, 2016. Of them, four were found unsafe while five failed to comply with labelling norms and only one was up to the standard. We have lodged criminal cases against the four plant owners in the court."
When contacted, president of Maharashtra Association of Bottled Water Manufacturers Vijaysinh Dubbal said, "There are 810 bottled water plants in Maharashtra that are working legitimately with requisite licences and required water testing facility. However, there are between 1,600 to 1,700 plants which are running illegally but there is no system to put such operators behind bars as FDA officials are overburdened and short-staffed."
The illegal plants are operational in every district. But they are mainly concentrated in Thane, Aurangabad, Nashik, Nagpur and Pune districts, Dubbal stated.
"Some of them only collect empty water bottles of standard companies, fill them with water and sell them. People are being fooled. When FDA draws random samples from the market and sends them for testing, the samples fail. This is how those who abide by the law bear the brunt of the illegal plants. Hence, we have decided to stage an agitation and surrender our licences by the end of this month," Dubbal said.