More charges brought against bottled water firms supplying France

Bottled water companies including Nestlé are facing more charges of illegal water treatment, with an NGO set to lodge two new complaints to the Paris judicial court.

NGO Foodwatch is claiming that Alma and Nestlé are guilty of “deception”.

It comes after Swiss giant Nestlé reached an agreement - the signing of a convention judiciaire d’intérêt public (CJIP) - with a court in Epinal (Vosges), allowing Nestlé to avoid trial in this case by paying a €2 million fine. The agreement related to the Vittel, Hépar and Contrex brands.

However, in a statement, Foodwatch rejected the agreement saying: “A financial settlement must not put an end to investigations into fraud on an international scale.” 

It is now calling for the rapid appointment of an investigating judge, and asking that the companies be handed “exemplary sanctions”.

It comes after Foodwatch first launched a case against Nestlé Waters in February 2024.

Read also: Four French water brands accused of bacteria and chemical contaminants 
Read also: Watchdog takes action over banned treatment of French mineral water 

‘Lack of state transparency’

Foodwatch is lodging two complaints; one against the companies’ actions, and another on what it calls lack of transparency on the issue from the state. Investigative work by Le Monde and Radio France identified that the government knew about the issues as far back as 2021, and had been informed by Nestlé itself during a meeting with the cabinet of then-Minister for Industry Agnès Pannier-Runacher.

The government granted Nestlé an exemption - against advice from its own departments - to allow it to continue using microfilters to clean water, which is banned under regulations on natural mineral waters.

French national health agency ANSES warned the government that Nestlé could request a waiver, but that granting it would be “unacceptable”, and risk opening France up to litigation from Europe.

Similarly, Foodwatch said that the director of ARS Occitanie, Didier Jaffre, had not reported the crime to the courts as soon as he became aware of it, in contravention of French law.

Indeed, in a report this summer, the European Commission accused France of “serious shortcomings, and said it had not only “inadequately collaborated with competent authorities” on the issue, but also failed to implement “immediate follow-up measures” to ensure that manufacturers had changed their practices.

‘Massive fraud’

Foodwatch said that when it discovered the pollution of its springs by pesticides and bacteria, Nestlé should have stopped selling the mineral water and informed the courts and consumers; not changed its treatment to use banned methods. 

The NGO said it had “refused Nestlé's money” and “cannot resign itself to burying the massive fraud affair that has affected the whole world…in particular the famous Perrier”.

While the agreement refers to the Vittel, Hépar and Contrex brands, “the scandal of illegal filtration also affects the Perrier brand”, said Foodwatch, adding that nearly three million bottles of the brand were destroyed in April, after the prefecture found “a risk to consumer health” and “germs indicative of faecal contamination”.

Foodwatch claims that there is still a “questionable” risk to human health.

The NGO is also lodging a complaint against the Alma group, which was the first company identified as using banned filter methods by consumer fraud group the DGCCRF. Analysis of its consumer lists then revealed the non-compliance at Nestlé.

Foodwatch has provided what it claims is evidence - including invoices, photos, and emails - that “proves” the use of these prohibited treatments. 

These include the injection of CO₂ to gasify “exceptional” water, but also the use of iron sulphate, which is traditionally used to remove arsenic from wastewater. 

‘Old and isolated incidents’

In its defence, when questioned by Le Monde and FranceInfo, the Alma group has said it did not use “any non-compliant treatment on any of its brands”. 

It said that the claims are referring to “old and isolated incidents”, with “the health and food safety of our water never having been called into question”.

Water rules in France

The controversy comes because “natural mineral water” is governed by strict rules in Europe.

The Public Health Code mentions three types of bottled water:

• Natural mineral water, distinguished by its 'original purity' (such as Perrier, Vittel, Evian)
• Spring water (such as Cristaline)
• Water ‘made drinkable by treatment’

Natural mineral waters and spring waters are supposed to be protected from the risks of contamination and pollution because they are drawn from deep underground aquifers.

This means that legally they can only be purified by a limited number of treatments and the use of carbon filters or UV filters is banned. The filter threshold must not be less than 0.8 microns, and filtration must only be used on an ad-hoc basis to filter out minerals such as iron or manganese.

Natural mineral water is intended to be pure already so it should not require purification.