Press Release 26.07.2024

Nestlé mineral water scandal: European Commission severely criticizes French authorities in new audit report

foodwatch calls for action to protect consumers from fraudulent products

In a new report on the mineral water scandal surrounding Nestlé, the European Commission passes a harsh judgement on the handling of the affair by the French authorities. The report points to serious shortcomings in the implementation of official controls and in preventing non-compliant products entering the market and their recall. It calls the official controls system “not suitable to identify and rectify potential health risks“.

The EU report confirms recent media reports that Nestlé has been filtering contaminated water using illegal methods and still selling it as “natural mineral water” for decades. And according to the report, the fraud could continue because: “The official control system in place in France is neither designed to detect nor to mitigate fraud in the natural mineral waters and spring waters sector nor is it correctly enforced, making the presence of non-compliant and potentially fraudulent products possible on the market.”

“It's even worse than we suspected. The report sheds light on dangerous weaknesses in our food control system”, said Ingrid Kragl from foodwatch France. For foodwatch, the report confirms what it has been denouncing at every scandal: opacity for consumers, lack of control by the authorities and impunity for multinationals. “foodwatch is calling for a strong political response to this massive fraud. Nestlé has been able to deceive consumers for decades without the authorities putting a halt to it. The system is failing: companies can sell their fraudulent products around the world without fear of consequences and consumers are left in the dark. We want the competent authorities to do their job, to carry out more reliable checks and, above all, to comply with the regulations”, said Ingrid Kragl from foodwatch France.

The audit report was published on Wednesday by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety after foodwatch had called on the European Commission to investigate how the French authorities had handled the scandal involving illegally treated bottled water sold in a number of countries. The international consumer organization filed a lawsuit against Nestlé and the mineral water producer Sources Alma in France in February.
The report points out „serious shortcomings that impinge on the implementation of the official controls system“ in France:

  • “the absence of regular risk-based official inspections, with a defined frequency“;
  • “inadequate collaboration between and within the competent authorities both at central and local levels“;
  • “the insufficient experience of the inspectors in some aspects of official controls“;
  • “the absence of immediate follow up measures i) to ensure that operators remedy non-compliances such as the use of prohibited treatments, ii) to avoid the placing on the market of natural mineral waters which do not qualify as such, iii) to recall non-compliant products from the market and iv) to impose fines/penalties to operators for placing non-compliant products on the market.“ 

Ingrid Kragl says: “This European audit report is a serious warning to all the competent authorities in every Member State. It illustrates how the inadequacy of controls fosters a climate of impunity within certain multinationals that market fraudulent products for years in Europe and around the world without being worried. This laissez-faire attitude must stop!“

As far as health safety is concerned, doubts remain according to the report: “Despite the substantial number of official analyses carried out, competent authorities were unable to identify the contaminated sources, the reasons for the use of illegal treatments, or the duration of such treatments. This indicates that the official controls system is not suitable to identify and rectify potential health risks“. 

In the past months, media investigations had revealed that mineral water sources in France were contaminated with faeces, Escherichia coli bacteria, PFAS and pesticides. Companies such as Nestlé had filtered the water in an illegal manner and continued to sell it as “natural mineral water” – a clear case of food fraud. In addition, the French food safety authorities also pointed out possible health risks months ago, as the media also brought to light. However, there was no public recall or warning to the authorities in other EU countries. 

According to the relevant EU directive, “natural mineral water” must meet certain criteria: It is of pristine purity and comes from underground water sources that are protected from contamination. Only a few treatment processes are permitted in the production and processing of natural mineral water, but not the methods used by Nestlé and Sources Alma.

Sources and additional information