Consumers Beware – Danger
Retailers are being requested by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) to remove implicated batches of own brand bottled water from sale and display, in stores and food outlets including Aldi, Applegreen, Broderick, Dunnes Stores, Itica, Lidl, Londis, Mace, Macari, San Marino, Plane and Spar.
Arsenic (chemical symbol As), a heavy metal, has been detected at levels above the prescribed legal limit in several branded ‘still’ and ‘sparkling’ bottled waters. Point-of-sale notices will now be displayed in stores, which were supplied with these implicated batches.
Users are being asked to please refer to the table supplied HERE, for full details of the implicated consignments.
Last week, it was bottled water from Spar and Londis outlets only, that were affected. Arsenic has no smell, taste, or colour when dissolved in water, even in high concentrations, so only laboratory analysis can truly detect its presence and concentration.
Consumers have been strongly advised not to drink bottled water and to seek medical advice immediately if they feel unwell.
Arsenic can enter any water supply from natural deposits in the earth or from industrial and agricultural pollution. It is widely believed that naturally occurring arsenic dissolves out of certain rock formations; particularly when ground water levels drop significantly.
Why is Arsenic, in high levels, is now appearing on our supermarket shelves? We now wait for further clarification and explanation and maybe Irish Water can give us some answers.
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