Tempers Boiling Over Perrier’s Definition of “Natural” Water

Heritage brand, Perrier, has found itself in hot water as an inquiry has suggested that the use of the term “natural” to describe its products is questionable. 

The brand, which is more than 120 years old, is now clashing with authorities over food and drink regulations. According to the New York Times, the crux of the issue is the use of filters where the water is sourced in the Gard region of southern France. 

The newspaper reports: “French regulators and independent consumer watchdogs have accused Nestlé Waters, Perrier’s French parent company, of using filters and ultraviolet sterilizers for years to treat the water it bottles from wells in Provence.”

These filtering processes mean that the water should not be labelled as natural, they argue. 

A report from the French Senate has gone as far as to accuse Perrier of concealing its “illegal practices”. It has also pointed the finger at the French Government, which the report suggests bowed to pressure from the multinational for Perrier to be able to keep its “natural” label. Alexandre Ouizille, the French senator who led the six-month investigation said: “This scandal is a sort of textbook case of regulatory capture and state-industry collusion.”

 The company’s filtering and sterilizing policies had already hit the headlines last September when the French newspaper, Le Monde and Radio France detailed Nestlé’s methods. The company agreed to pay a fine of two million euros ($2.25 million) to settle the resultant lawsuit.

There is now a standoff with authorities in the Gard region arguing that the filters must be removed within two months and debating whether Perrier’s labelling needs to change. Perrier’s parent company has hit back. In a statement, it said: “With food safety as a primary goal, the company reiterates that all its natural mineral water products on the market have always been and remain safe to drink, and their unique minerality is as shown on the label.” 

However, the saga has ignited a wider argument about whether widespread pollution of groundwater has now changed whether water has been bottled at source without purification methods. There have been several reports about chemicals being found in the water where Perrier is bottled. 

In February, the Nestlé conglomerate’s chief executive, Laurent Freixe, said in an interview that the concept of natural mineral water was perhaps now unrealistic because of human interference: “This romantic idea that you can take pure water from the source, bottle it without any intervention and ensure food safety is just that: romantic,” he said. “It doesn’t stand up to the reality of human activity.”