Amid the growing concern regarding food safety and the importance of hygiene, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) classified packaged drinking water as a ‘high-risk’ food category.
What categorizes as high-risk foods?
High-risk foods as defined by FSSAI are those that have a higher potential for contamination, poor storage, or mishandling, increasing the risk of foodborne illnesses. Such foods require stricter regulations and surveillance before they are deemed safe for consumption.
In addition to packaged drinking water, FSSAI classified several other foods as “high-risk” including raw meat, fish, dairy products, freshly cut fruits, vegetables, prepared foods, ready-to-eat meals, salads, cooked dishes, sweets, confectionery, juices, soft drinks, among other things.
In an order issued on November 29, FSSAI explained that due to the removal of the mandatory Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification for certain products, packaged drinking water and mineral water will now fall under the ‘High-Risk Food Categories.’
This means that these products will undergo mandatory risk inspections to ensure safety.
The order further stated that all centrally licensed manufacturers within the high-risk food category must have their businesses audited annually by an FSSAI-recognized third-party food safety auditing agency.
Raids in Hyderabad uncover irregularities in packaged drinking water
On November 16, the southeast zone task force conducted a raid at a water plant located in Chandrayanagutta after it received information that packaged drinking water was being produced without proper guidelines and regulations.
According to a police statement, the inspections by south east zone task force revealed that the drinking water was not filtered properly. The officials seized 6,528 bottles and the well set up for producing drinking water.
On November 14, the food safety department officers raided a water treatment and bottling plant and seized large quantities of lookalike packaged drinking water from popular mineral water bottle companies. Several violations in total dissolved solids (TDS) levels in the bottles were found.
The raids were conducted in K2 King Aqua and Beverages located in Kacheguda, finding packaged water bottles branded to impersonate Bisleri and Kinley.
The officials seized a total of 19,268 litres of packaged drinking water, including 5400 bottles of 1-litre capacity, branded as Brislehri, 12216 bottles of 500 ml capacity, branded as Brislehri, 1172 bottles of 1-litre capacity and 12960 bottles of 500 ml branded as Kelvey, and 216 bottles of 500 ml branded as Nature’s Pure.
The packaged drinking water had below-par quality standards with the bottles scoring lower than the prescribed TDS level of 75 mg/L.
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