Beware before buying packaged water bottles: K’taka Health Minister
Bengaluru (The Uttam Hindu): Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao has raised concerns over the availability of unsafe packaged mineral water bottles in the state and urged people to be cautious while purchasing them.
Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru on Tuesday, Minister Rao said, “People should be aware. Packaged mineral water is available under various brands everywhere. However, when tested for safety, many of them fail to meet the standards. This has become a matter of concern for us.” He further stated, “We are collecting legal samples from all packaged mineral water brands. This will allow us to take legal action against the companies. Once the samples are tested, we will begin initiating action.”
“Some samples have been found to be substandard due to the lack of certain minerals. While this may not be highly dangerous, water samples found to be unsafe contain harmful chemicals and bacteria, which pose serious health risks,” the Health Minister added. He added that the Office of the Commissioner, Food Safety and Drug Administration, and the government of Karnataka’s Food Safety Division have undertaken measures in this regard. He said as part of the special campaign in February 2025, 296 drinking water bottle samples were collected for analysis.
“Out of the 255 collected samples, 72 samples were found safe, 95 samples were unsafe, and 88 samples were of substandard quality. The analysis of remaining samples is in progress. To verify the use of artificial colours in Fried green peas, 115 samples were collected and sent for analysis. Out of these, 46 samples were found safe, while 69 samples were found unsafe,” he said.
He said that the department has also collected 49 ghee samples for analysis, out of which 6 samples were tested and found safe. “The remaining samples are under analysis. Out of 43 Khova samples, nine were analysed. Three were found to be substandard quality, and six samples were found safe,” he said. The minister added that out of 231 Paneer samples, 32 were analysed, of which two samples were found unsafe.
“In 198 sweet samples, two were found unsafe; 119 khara (namkeen) mixture samples 4 found to be unsafe. Out of 46 local brands of juice/beverage samples, 39 ice candy samples and 107 ice cream samples were collected and sent for analysis,” he added. He said that the department states that 92 food production/sales units of juices, ice candy, and ice creams were issued notices after inspections revealed violations, and 6 units were fined Rs 38,000, Minister Rao stated.
“Notices are issued to 214 hotels/restaurants for non-compliance, and 11 establishments were fined Rs 1.15 lakh. The hotels were inspected to assess pest control measures for cockroaches, rodents and other insects,” he said. The minister added that the Drug Administration division had drawn 1,891 samples by the enforcement officers in the interest of public health and analysed them in the Drugs Testing Laboratories at Bengaluru, Hubballi and Ballari.
“Among them, 1,298 samples are declared as standard quality and 41 are declared as not of standard quality in the month of March 2025. In the year 2024-25, a total of 10 cases have been filed, and in March 2025, a total of 18 cases were filed in various courts under the violation of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules thereunder,” he said.
