In August, the Occitanie regional health agency invited Nestle Waters, caught up in a scandal over prohibited treatments for its mineral waters, to "question" another "food use" of its Perrier packaging site, according to revelations Monday by Radio France and Le Monde.
The French subsidiary of the Swiss giant has been the subject of controversy since January concerning its past use of disinfection treatments for its mineral waters, which are not dangerous but are prohibited for mineral waters, which must have a natural quality that allows them to be dispensed with.
These conditions are less and less met on the mineral water production sites of Nestle Waters, which had to stop operating one of its boreholes at its Perrier packaging site in Vergeze (Gard) in April after the discovery of bacteria of faecal origin.
In a report dated August, cited by Radio France and Le Monde, the regional health agency (ARS) of Occitanie judged that these "bacterial contaminations", although "one-off", are "unacceptable for a natural mineral water".
She "invited" Nestle Waters to "strategically consider another possible food use for the exploitation of current mineral water catchments," the two media outlets report.
For example, Nestle Waters owns the Maison Perrier brand, which does not benefit from the mineral water designation and can therefore be subject to disinfection treatments.
According to both media outlets, ARS Occitanie concluded in August that the use of certain unauthorized treatments, which include UV lamps and carbon filters, had indeed ceased on the Vergeze site.
On the other hand, she considered that microfiltration, the regulation of which was relaxed by the government in 2023, is "not regulatory" in that it has a "proven disinfectant effect".
The report also mentioned a "virological risk", as microfilters have "no retention effect on viruses", according to Radio France and Le Monde.
"We operate the Vergeze site in accordance with the framework set by the authorities and under their control," Nestle Waters responded to AFP, not wishing to comment on the report before its final version.
Socialist senator Alexandre Ouizille, rapporteur of the parliamentary inquiry commission into the practices of bottled water manufacturers, spoke on Monday of a report that was "damning for" Nestle Waters, "but also for the Borne government, which validated a transformation plan that remains (...) illegal."
English 
French