Nestlé waters contaminated? Not the first time !

The people of #France are waking up these days to a disturbing revelation-their sacred #mineralwaters, a source of health and purity, may be contaminated. Their beloved company, #Nestlé, stands accused of swindling them and illegally treating spring water that should have been natural and untouched by human and technological interventions.?

?All the #media were quick to repeat the same cryptic report that leaked out. Consumer organizations also seized the opportunity to profile themselves, giving their opinions on what should be done, seemingly without any detailed information on the matter. It's crucial to remember that the devil is in the details, and one must adequately examine the details of the issue before asking for the recall of so much bottled water.

?The authorities have been oddly quiet and have yet to shed light on the issue. As a consumer, I find this concerning and expected greater transparency from those in charge. A press conference would be a welcome step in the right direction.

However, all these bodies, from civil society to regulatory authorities and food safety agencies, are also responsible for this scandal because they failed to heed the warnings we received. First of all, the government is accountable for supervising companies. In the case of Nestlé, they looked the other way. Secondly, even if they inspected and monitored Nestlé's water operations, they were incompetent to see that Nestlé was treating its mineral water; thirdly, there were numerous alerts of various kinds. One of these is that Nestlé mineral water was previously reported to be contaminated with fecal matter. First, in 2016, in Egypt.?https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/216882/Business/Economy/Nestle-Egypt-recalls-coliformcontaminated-bottled-.aspx

Interestingly, in this case, water sold by PepsiCo was also contaminated , but the report only leaked to the media, and there was no transparent public reporting. Again, in 2018, the issue was repeated in Jordan. https://www.foodnavigator-asia.com/Article/2018/09/12/Nestle-Waters-withdraws-bottled-water-in-Jordan-due-to-bacteria-contamination In these countries, the water was recalled. These incidents should have made them think and incited them to check the mineral waters in Europe. Has it been done?

However, alerts have also been sounded in Europe. Both the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which sets international standards, and the European Commission, which draws up EU regulations, have recognized the importance of the food safety culture and have formulated specific requirements stipulating the need to establish a positive food safety culture as a condition for achieving food safety and upholding regulations. In a lawsuit that lasted 13 years in Switzerland, from 1010 to 2024, I demonstrated that all the requirements of a positive food safety culture, the European #whistleblowing Directive, as well as national whistleblowing regulations, are violated, and worse still, Nestlé has committed fraudulent practices. Still, no authority, consumer, or professional organization has shown interest in examining this company's practices and exercising closer supervision.

Given recent events, I maintain that just as the French authorities are calling for closer monitoring of mineral water, a #company that commits the kind of behavior demonstrated in court and still has no regrets needs more control and oversight. This is where our system fails, by placing blind trust in Nestlé. Experience has shown that there is no company too big to fail.?

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P.S. In times of incident, recall is not a bad thing. It is a positive action to protect consumers. So, the problem is not the recalls but the lack of transparency on the part of the government and Nestlé.