Nestlé Waters, a subsidiary dedicated to the bottled waters of the Veveysan Nestlé giant, disputes the revelations of the French site Mediapart, according to which natural mineral waters Contrex and Hépar are contaminated with microplastics by the wild discharges of Nestlé.
The company “categorically rejects the allegations on the presence of microplastics in hepar and countex boreholes”, judging them “unfounded” and ensures that the bottled waters of its two Vosges brands “are perfectly safe and can be consumed safely”, according to the Nestlé Waters press release obtained on Monday by the AWP agency.
On Saturday, the online investigation site Mediapart, based on “the conclusions of the French Biodiversity Office survey” (OFB) revealed that “the waters of Contrex and Hépar contain” exorbitant “microplastics due to discharges left abandoned by Nestlé which polluted water sources”, with “a real danger for health”.
For its part, “Nestlé Waters notably challenges the results of the analyzes of the laboratory mandated by the OFB”, a public establishment dedicated to the protection of biodiversity, believing that “these analyzes were carried out by a laboratory not accredited for the analysis of microplastics”.
Nestlé Waters on trial in November
“As soon as these results are learned”, the company, which also swarms Vittel water in the commune of the same name, says it has “launched verification analyzes” with the Nestlé Nqac laboratory and its counterparts Terana and SGS Fresenius, based in Germany. According to her, “the reliable and homogeneous data of these three laboratories show the absence of microplastics in the water of our boreholes”.
Nestlé Waters is continued in France for storing waste and maintained four wild landfills of plastic bottles in Contrexéville, They-sous-Montfort, Saint-Ouen-les-Parey and Crainvilliers, representing a cumulative volume of 473,700 cubic meters, the equivalent of 126 Olympic pools. His trial will take place at the end of November in Nancy, in eastern France.
The company already in the turmoil of the water scandal
Last July, searches took place at the headquarters of Nestlé France in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris, said the repression of fraud, as part of the complaint filed by the NGO Foodwatch “targeting the companies Nestlé and Nestlé Waters” about the marketing of water in bottles illegally filtered.
Also in July, the French newspaper The world indicated that Nestlé had announced that he had withdrawn her illegal filters, but had not yet provided proof that Perrier sources, located in the south of France, could produce a drink corresponding to the criteria of natural mineral water.
In the first half, the Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages division, which brings together the Vosges but also Perrier, Maison Perrier, Maison Perrier or San Pellegrino garnered 1.82 billion francs in revenue, up 0.6% over a year.
