Fake Drinking Water Found in Beijing
Updated July, 2007: On Monday, the Beijing Times published an article that reported that half of the water coolers in Beijing contain counterfeit water brands. The water is either tap water or purified water from small suppliers who put the water in jugs and label them with fake quality standard marks.
This is a concern because the tap water in Beijing is normally not very safe to drink. The city has very old pipes and if you boil the water it leaves a white residue in cooking pots. There are many people that are affected by this discovery; over 10 million Chinese regularly use water machines.
On Tuesday, officials shut down a bottled water distributing station in Beijing and removed labels and safety seals from local water brands.
The news article from the Beijing Times used an anonymous source who said that the practice of forging water labels is a common practice because water from major suppliers can cost twice as much as counterfeit brands.
Officials from China’s food and drug administration promised to further address the findings of this report.
This has not been the first recall linked to Chinese products. Since the FDA has cracked down on safety regulations, numerous Chinese products have been recalled because they contained toxic chemicals etc. Some of the most recent recalls include toothpaste, tires, seafood, pet food, and many different kinds of toys.