ITALY: Bleach found in bottled water - report

By just-drinks.com editorial team | 8 December 2003

Traces of bleach have been found in bottles of mineral water in Italy. Although no-one who drank the infected water became seriously ill, a few were treated in hospitals for digestive tract irritation.

Thousands of bottles of water have been removed from store shelves. Most of the bottles that appeared to have been tampered with were found in the north of the country. At least three cases have been reported in the suburbs of Milan.

Newspaper reports over the weekend said that there have been at least a dozen cases since the beginning of December. Some consumers have handed over bottles to the police with what appeared to be a pinhole near the cap.

La Repubblica newspaper quoted Angelo Cortesi, the president of the federation of beverage distributors, as suspecting the tampering was occurring at store level. "It's not possible that the bottles were tampered with in a warehouse because one warehouse can only cover a range of 50 to 70 kilometres," said Cortesi, pointing out that the stores where suspected bottles had been purchased were in some cases hundreds of kilometres apart.

The reports so far have not indicated which brands have been affected.

Sectors: Water