The French government hides Nestlé water scandal, says Senate

The French government covered up information about Nestlé's bottle water production in France, the results of the country's Senate examination.

In its conclusions, the Senate said: “The Commission comes to the conclusion that the Presidency of the Republic had known at least since 2022 that Nestlé had cheated for years, that this caused a distortion of the competition with other mineral producers and that the bacteriological and even virological contamination was aware of certain drills.”

In January last year, Nestlé admitted to violating the regulations in France in terms of treatment of mineral water in bottles.

“In addition to the lack of transparency from Nestlé Waters, it is necessary to highlight the lack of transparency of the state to both local and European authorities and French,” said the Senate Report.

From August 31, 2021 to January 29, 2024, the European Commission was not informed about the practices in Nestlé's water transaction, said the Senate: “Although a European directive is informed in the event of difficulties with natural mineral water”.

“This covering, including the local authorities, is part of a conscious strategy that was discussed on October 14, 2021 at the first interministerial meeting about natural mineral waters. Almost four years later, transparency has not yet been reached.”

The Senate added that the approval for the use of the microfiltration came from the 0.8 micron threshold from the “highest government level”.

At the beginning of this month, Nestlé was asked by the French authorities to remove system filters from its locations of Vergèze and Vosges in the country that produce brands in bottle water such as Perrier and Contrex.

The group of the group told the group Only drink At that time it was “determined to look for solutions for inquiries from the Gard's prefects and the Vosges” in order to remove a “0.2 -micron microfiltration system” “within two months”.

In a short explanation, a “technical solution” was already found for the location of Vosges, which affects Contrex and Hépar, but the plan still has to “validate by the authorities”.

The investigation that ended this month took place more than 70 hearings, some of which included Nestlé CEO Laurent Freixe and Ronan Le Fanic, the global director of technical and production in Nestlé Waters.

Since then, Fanic has been suspected in his hearing of mgeil. The Senate has referred the matter to the Parisian prosecutor to the “wrong statement”.

In today's response to the Senate report, a spokesman for Nestlé said: “We are taking the conclusions of the French Senate Committee on committee of inquiry in practice in the bottle water industry, which underlines the common challenges for mineral fulfillment today and the need for greater clarity and consistency when using the regulatory framework.

“With food safety as the main goal, the company confirms that all of its natural mineral water products on the market have always been drinking, and its unique minerality is as shown in the label.

“The company welcomes the focus of the committee of inquiry on the protection of the unique heritage of the French mineral water resource-one matter of crucial importance for all players in the natural mineral water industry. Nestlé Waters has a long-term commitment to the preservation of water resources at all locations through concrete initiatives that are in the region in which the superiors has, in the superiors in which the superiors have dealt, and in the predictions in which business in the areas of business has dealt in the conditions.

During his hearing in April, Freixe informed the French senatorers that the company would start an internal test of its water production in France.

In an interview with the Senate, he said that the evaluation would take a few months to complete, and it was “essential if we want to learn all lessons, and I will draw all the necessary conclusions from it”.

In his opening speeches, Freixe said that their water department was informed about the continued use of wells for natural mineral water production in its Vergèze facility in the Gard region in southern France.

Accordingly Le monde In January 2024Present According to reports, Nestlé used disinfectant “due to sporadic bacterial or chemical contamination”, which are not permitted under French law for products that are referred to as “jump” or “mineral”.

In an explanation, Nestlé then said that it was used “microfiltration [its] Water locations on the finer level than previously recognized by the French authorities. “

“We also used activated carbon filters and ultraviolet systems that are permitted by other jurisdiction, but do not match the applicable French natural mineral water regulations,” added Nestlé.

It said that it was “proactively” reported to the French authorities in 2021 and “provided them with several options to ensure compliance with the regulations”.

The following September the group agreed with an agreement and a fine of € 2 million (2.2 $) with the French authorities due to claims due to violations of laws of mineral water and illegal bores.

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