CONSUMER confidence in the food and beverage industry took another blow last night when it emerged that some batches of bottled water, supplied by Shannon Minerals, were pulled from the shop shelves of three major supermarkets.
Superquinn, Aldi and Lidl were forced by the FSAI to remove bottled water supplied by the Limerick plant after tests raised concern over hygiene standards. The Limerick based company, however, is striving to rectify the issue.
In a statement, the FSAI said: “Operations at the plant have been suspended until the cause of the contamination is identified and appropriate remedial action taken.”
The products involved were:
– Two-litre Carrick Glen spring water sold by Lidl (batches numbers 8328 and 8323)
– six packs of 750ml Comeragh Springs spring water sold by Aldi (batch number 8323)
– six packs of 500ml Coolwater spring water sold by Superquinn (batch number 8307)
– two-litre Superquinn still water (batches numbers 8315 and 8323)
Coliforms, which are indicators of possible faecal contamination, were found in all of the batches, while pseudomona bacteria, some types of which cause illness to people with suppressed immune systems, were also discovered in the Comeragh Springs, Coolwater and one of the Superquinn still water batches.
Shannon Minerals, the family company of former Olympic athlete Frank O’Mara, said last night that a new set of criteria, which the company had not been informed of, had been applied to the tests which led to the withdrawal.
In a statement, Shannon Minerals said it “takes all issues around the quality of its products very seriously and places a high value on delivering products of the highest standards to its customers”.
“Whilst the products never posed a risk to the public, Shannon Minerals Ltd decided, in conjunction with its customers, to withdraw the products from sale, so as not to contravene the new regulations,” the statement said.
“This trade withdrawal was taken at considerable financial cost to Shannon Minerals Ltd.”
The company is confident, however, that they will resume bottling in the coming days and provide the consumer base with a quality product, The company also stressed that their soft drink products were incident free.
These tests were carried out on November 27 last and that has drawn criticism towards the FSAI for not notifying the general public earlier as many of the batches have been sold already.
An FSAI spokeswoman said that while the presence of coliforms “raised concerns regarding the standards of hygiene of the water source or in the bottling process”, there was “no serious risk” to human health from the contaminated batches.
