“We will return with a better capacity to serve our products at the end of these operations, and after a phase of reconstitution of our stocks,” he only added. Nestlé Waters did not respond to requests for additional details as of Friday morning.
Wells disinfected?
The company already had to stop operating one of its boreholes in April at the request of the State and destroy at least two million bottles after the discovery of bacteria of fecal origin. According to the newspaper Le Monde and radio Franceinfo, the operation of two other wells used to produce natural mineral water has since been suspended for disinfection.
As a result, according to these media, Nestlé Waters no longer has the volumes of natural mineral water necessary to produce one-liter plastic “green” Perrier bottles, which represent the largest volumes for the brand. The group prefers to suspend their marketing until the end of summer in favor of smaller formats. Contacted by AFP, union representatives from the Vergèze factory (Gard), which produces Perrier brand bottles, did not wish to communicate. According to media reports, the unions at this factory have activated their right to alert in the face of a situation likely to potentially affect the future of the site.
The future of the site in suspense
The Occitanie regional health agency and the departmental population protection department inspected the plant, its boreholes and its water quality self-monitoring laboratory on the site on May 30, also indicated Le Monde and Franceinfo, which specify that the results have not been made public. The NGO Foodwatch judged this Friday “the silence of the authorities in this whole affair […] unacceptable”.
The consumer defense organization wonders about the consequences of this suspension if it is confirmed “for disinfection”: will this lead to a “recall of waters that do not comply with regulations”? This new episode comes after a series of setbacks for the group. In addition to the destruction of several million bottles, the water producer publicly admitted, at the start of the year, to having resorted in France and Switzerland to treatments prohibited on mineral water (disinfection by UV lamp, filtration on activated carbon ), to guarantee risk-free consumption. Nestlé also owns the Vittel, Contrex and Hépar brands in France.
