FOR GENERAL QUALITIES
Marking/Labelling
The bottle of packaged drinking water should be legibly marked with these details: a) name of the product; b) name and address of processor; c) brand name, if any; d) batch or code number; e) date of processing/packaging; f) treatment of disinfection, if any; g) ‘best before’ date; and h) mandatory ISI mark , MRP, net quantity and customer care details. The green dot (indicating vegetarian status) is not a mandatory requirement for packaged drinking water.
• All brands except Pure Drop were found to meet the marking/labelling requirements and hence were given full scores. Date of packaging was not marked in Pure Drop.
• All brands carried the ISI mark, which is a mandatory requirement.
Packing
The packaging material should be of food-grade and the cap of the bottle must not have any colour migration on the product.
• All the brands were packaged in reusable, sealed 20-litre colourless jars.
Manufacturers’ Comments
As a matter of policy, before publication, the test results of the brands are shared with their respective manufacturers/marketers inviting their views/ comments. We reproduce here the comments of manufacturers as well as our reply: