A report by a UK academic published in the US journal, Emerging Infectious Diseases, has suggested that bottled mineral water could account for 12% of cases of food poisoning by the campylobacter bacterium which is the largest source of food-borne infection in the western world.
While contaminated water, milk and poultry have traditionally been seen as the prime causes of campylobacter, new research by a group of scientists, led by Dr Meirion Evans of the University of Cardiff, showed that bottled mineral water and non-lettuce salad vegetables are also potential sources. Bottled water was found to account for 12% of the cases studied against 21% for salads and 31% for chicken.
“Eating chicken is a well-established risk factor, but consuming salad and bottled water are not,” Dr Evans said. “The possibility that natural mineral water is a risk factor for campylobacter infection could have wide public health implications.”
