After the Buitoni pizza scandal at the Caudry factory (Hauts-de-France), the Nestlé group is once once more in turmoil. Its subsidiary Nestlé Waters, the world number one in mineral water, admitted to having deliberately used, for years, prohibited ultraviolet treatments and carbon filters on some of its waters (Perrier, Vittel, Hépar and Contrex ), to preserve ” food safety “.
A disinfection practice, usual for tap water, but prohibited for mineral water, which must naturally be of high microbiological quality. “It was a legacy of the past, our brands are now fully compliant with the regulatory framework applicable in France,” assured AFP Muriel Lienau, the president of Nestlé France, following revelations from Echoes.
A late mea culpa from the company
The company justified having used these techniques due to the “changes in the environment around its sources, which can sometimes make it difficult to maintain the stability of essential characteristics” of its waters. In short, guaranteeing an absence of pollution. To avoid a scandal comparable to that of Buitoni pizzas, the firm this time took the lead and informed the health authorities of its circumvention of the rule, in 2021.
A belated mea culpa, a priori, even if the firm did not deign to specify how long it had been practicing these “disinfections”. Rather conciliatory, the State authorized Nestlé to use microfiltration, which is not considered to be contrary to European regulations. “This “mea culpa” operation on the part of the multinational was, in reality, orchestrated by its communications teams” advances franceinfo, author with Le Monde of an investigation published Tuesday January 30 on the subject.
This investigation, revealing a more complex affair than might appear, points to the responsibility of the government, in particular through the Minister of Industry at the time, Agnès Pannier-Runacher. The state knew, and even authorized the use of prohibited treatments. According to the work of journalists, 30% of “branded” waters are affected by these practices, 100% for those of Nestlé.
However, this flexibility did not make it possible to preserve all of the group’s wells. In the Vosges, four (linked to the Hépar and Contrex brands) had to be closed, because they were particularly sensitive to climatic hazards. And in Gard, two of the eight wells used to produce Perrier had to be diverted to a new brand created for the occasion, Maison Perrier, a range of aromatic waters with less strict standards than mineral waters.
“There is more than a failure of controls, there is an abandonment of the State. »
Bernard Schmitt, a former doctor, member of the “Eau 88” collective
Added to the end of the marketing of the Vittel brand in Germany, these measures led the group to launch a social plan in the Vosges, with 171 job cuts, without layoffs according to an agreement signed in November with the unions.
“We did not know (these practices), but it does not surprise us that they were forced to filter this water to keep its (mineral) composition which must be stable,” reacted to AFP Bernard Schmitt, a former doctor, member of the “Eau 88” collective, which fights once morest the overexploitation by Nestlé of local water tables. “It’s a company that does what it wants and no one has the means to control what it does,” regrets the activist. “For me, there is more than a failure of controls, there is an abandonment (…) of the State, of successive powers” For years.
“The global consumption of bottled water is exploding and, with it, that of oil which makes it possible to manufacture plastic and transport the bottles. A disastrous ecological impact; populations, particularly in poor countries, robbed by multinationals of a resource that belongs to everyone… Isn’t bottled water poisoning our lives? » asked Humanité Dimanche in its July 17, 2008 edition.
The investigation we carried out already showed that, to manufacture the 5 billion bottles of water consumed in France at the time, it was necessary to use 170,000 tonnes of PET plastic packaging (polyethylene terephthalate, produced from a derivative of crude oil). Not to mention the tons of cardboard and plastic film that had been used to package them.
We also showed that half of the global market for bottled water would be enough to create sanitation infrastructure so that every inhabitant on earth has access to drinking water.
This investigation earned us letters of intimidation and withdrawal of advertising budgets from one of the giants of the sector…
“The global consumption of bottled water is exploding and, with it, that of oil which makes it possible to manufacture plastic and transport the bottles. A disastrous ecological impact; populations, particularly in poor countries, robbed by multinationals of a resource that belongs to everyone… Isn’t bottled water poisoning our lives? » asked Humanité Dimanche in its July 17, 2008 edition.
The investigation we carried out already showed that, to manufacture the 5 billion bottles of water consumed in France at the time, it was necessary to use 170,000 tonnes of PET plastic packaging (polyethylene terephthalate, produced from a derivative of crude oil). Not to mention the tons of cardboard and plastic film that had been used to package them.
We also showed that half of the global market for bottled water would be enough to create sanitation infrastructure so that every inhabitant on earth has access to drinking water.
This investigation earned us letters of intimidation and withdrawal of advertising budgets from one of the giants of the sector…
“The global consumption of bottled water is exploding and, with it, that of oil which makes it possible to manufacture plastic and transport the bottles. A disastrous ecological impact; populations, particularly in poor countries, robbed by multinationals of a resource that belongs to everyone… Isn’t bottled water poisoning our lives? » asked Humanité Dimanche in its July 17, 2008 edition.
The investigation we carried out already showed that, to manufacture the 5 billion bottles of water consumed in France at the time, it was necessary to use 170,000 tonnes of PET plastic packaging (polyethylene terephthalate, produced from a derivative of crude oil). Not to mention the tons of cardboard and plastic film that had been used to package them.
We also showed that half of the global market for bottled water would be enough to create sanitation infrastructure so that every inhabitant on earth has access to drinking water.
This investigation earned us letters of intimidation and withdrawal of advertising budgets from one of the giants of the sector…
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