Tests confirm Nongfu Spring water safe

Nongfu Spring, a major domestic bottled-water producer that faced questions about its water quality, has received support from the Zhejiang provincial government, which released test results that confirmed the company's products are safe to drink, People's Daily reported on May 9.

According to the Health Bureau of Zhejiang province, random checks on four batches of Nongfu Spring bottled water from its six production sites on April 11 by the quality watchdog of Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, showed they all passed tests and met national mandatory standards for bottled drinking water.

The announcement from the East China province, where Nongfu Spring Co is based, clarifies the recent dispute on water standards adopted by one of China's biggest bottled-water producers.

The dispute started on April 10 when the Beijing Times published a report accusing Nongfu Spring of adopting the water-quality standards of Zhejiang province instead of the stricter national standards, although the water is sold all over China.

Zhong Shanshan, chairman of Nongfu Spring, said in a news conference on May 6 in Beijing that the company has adopted both national standards and DB 33/383, the standard set by Zhejiang, and that the national standards are mandatory for all bottled-water enterprises, which is why they are not labeled on its products.

He also said that wherever there is a discrepancy between the standards, the company has followed the stricter one.

Zhou Xiaolin, an official with Zhejiang's top quality authority, confirmed to People's Daily that all bottled-water producers in the province have been following mandatory national standards.

Zhou said the quality authorities in Zhejiang tested 19 batches of bottled water from Nongfu Spring from 2009 to 2012, and all met both local and national standards.