Lok Sabha Question No. 2763 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-13
Subject: Contaminated of Bottled Drinking Water
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: R.K. BHARATHI MOHAN, KRISHNAN NARAYANASAMY RAMACHANDRAN, PR. SENTHILNATHAN, RAJESH KUMAR DIWAKAR, ASHOK MAHADEORAO NETE, SANTOSH AHLAWAT

## Government of India

## Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2763

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.03.2018

## CONTAMINATED BOTTLED DRINKING WATER

2763.  SHRI  BHARATHI  MOHAN  R.K.:  SHRI  K.N.  RAMACHANDRAN:  SHRI  PR.  SENTHIL NATHAN:  SHRI  RAJESH  KUMAR  DIWAKER:  SHRI  ASHOK  MAHADEORAO  NETE: SHRIMATI SANTOSH AHLAWAT:

## Will  the  Minister  of  CONSUMER  AFFAIRS,  FOOD  AND  PUBLIC  DISTRIBUTION miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  lots  of  shopkeepers  are  selling  contaminated  drinking water bottles without BIS mark illegally and if so, the details thereof and the action taken by the Government in this regard;
- (b) whether the Government proposes to make any strict law to tackle these types of vendors in future and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government has any plan to ban the selling of Drinking water in plastic pouches which is dangerous and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government has taken any steps to curb the menace of contaminated bottled water and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) whether the Government has apointed any regulator for quality control of bottled drinking water and if so, the details of the complaints received and action taken against the manufacturers/vendors of contaminated bottled drinking water ?

## ANSWER

## miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k jkT; ea=h ¼Jh lh- vkj- pkS/kjh½

## THE MINISTER OF STATE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY)

(a)  &  (b)  :        FSSAI  has  prescribed  quality  standards  of    Packaged  Mineral  Water  and  Packaged Drinking Water (other than Mineral Water) under sub-regulations 2.10.7 and 2.10.8 of Food Safety and Standards (Food  Product Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011.  Further, under Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) Regulations, 2011, it is specified that 'No person shall manufacture, sell or exhibit for sale packaged drinking water and mineral water except under the Bureau of Indian Standards Certification Mark'.

Cases  of  sale  of  packaged  mineral  water/drinking  water  by  unlicensed  units  /  without  BIS certification  mark  have  come  to  notice  of  the  FSSAI.  As  and  when  such  reports  are  received, Commissioners of Food Safety of the States/UTs are advised to take strict action against the erring Food Business Operators under the penal provisions of Food Safety and Standards Act.  The penal provisions under Chapter IX of the FSS Act, 2006 are considered adequate to deal with such cases.

As per BIS Act 2016, sale of goods which are notified by central government under compulsory BIS Certification when sold without BIS Standard mark is treated as cognizable offence. (Section 16, 17 and 29 of BIS Act 2016).

- (c) : No  Madam.  However,    strict  norms  regarding  the  packaging  material  to  be  used  for packaged  drinking  water  are  laid  down  in  sub-regulation  2.1.2(5)  of  Food  Safety  and  Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011 as under:
- ' It shall be packed in clean, hygienic, colourless, transparent and tamperproof bottles/containers  made  of  polyethylene  (PE)  (conforming  to  IS:10146  or  polyvinyl  chloride  (PVC) conforming to IS : 10151 or polyalkylene terephthalate (PET and PBT) conforming to IS : 12252 or polypropylene conforming to IS : 10910 or foodgrade polycarbonate or sterile glass bottles suitable for preventing possible adulteration or contamination of the water.

All packaging materials of plastic origin shall pass the prescribed overall migration and colour migration limits'

- (d) & (e): Food  Safety  and  Standards  Authority  of  India  established  under  Food  Safety  and Standards Act,  2006  functions  as  the  regulatory    authority  for  ensuring  quality  of  food    for  human consumption , including  Packaged Drinking Water.

FSSAI  has  launched  an  online    safe  water  web  portal  where  consumers  can  view  and compare  test  reports  of  packaged  drinking  water/mineral  water  including  physical,  chemical  and microbiological  information uploaded by enforcement agencies and Food Business Operators  using FSSAI or BIS License No.  . The initiative aims to use this portal as a 'confidence building exercise' for  the  packaged  drinking  water  emphasising  that  the  consumers  have  the  right  to  expect  that  the packaged drinking water/ beverage they purchase should be safe and of high quality.  States/UTs and FBOs are already uploading their data.

The  enforcement  of  the  provisions  of  Food  Safety  and  Standards  Act,  2006  and  Rules  and Regulations  made  there  under  primarily  rests  with  States/UTs.  Regular  surveillance,  monitoring, inspection and random sampling of food articles including packaged drinking water/mineral water is being done by State Food Safety Authorities to check compliance of the prescribed norms and take penal action against cases of non-compliance.

As  per  the  information  available  from  State/UT  Governments,  the  details  of  samples  of Packaged Drinking Water/Packaged Mineral Water collected, tested, found non-conforming and penal action taken during the year 2016-17 is as under:

|   Total no. of samples taken |   No of Samples Analysed |   No. of Samples found non- conforming |   No of cases launched |   No of cases of convictions |   No. of cases where penalties imposed |
|------------------------------|--------------------------|----------------------------------------|------------------------|------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
|                          743 |                      697 |                                    224 |                    131 |                           33 |                                     40 |

BIS has received 55 complaints regarding quality of Packaged Drinking Water and Packaged Natural Mineral Water during the last three years and the current year (upto Februrary 2018). During the same period, on investigation, 23 complaints were established and actions were taken which inter alia includes stop marking and/or cancellation/expiry of the Licence. In addition, complaints were also received  regarding  misuse  of  Standard  Mark  by  manufacturers  without  BIS  licence.  After  discreet investigation, raids were conducted and cases were filed in the court of law. The details of number of raids conducted in the last three years and the current year is given below:

Number of Search and Seizures (Raids) carried out for misuse of Standard Mark during the last three years and the current year  for Packaged Drinking Water/Natural Mineral water is given below:

| Number of Raids   |   2014 -15 |   2015 -16 |   2016-17 |   2017-18 (upto Feb 2018) |
|-------------------|------------|------------|-----------|---------------------------|
|                   |         40 |         71 |        51 |                        30 |