PANIC gripped the country’s retail sector yesterday, with some shops rejecting some bottled water brands deemed as contaminated.
By Staff Reporter This follows laboratory tests conducted by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), which concluded that some bottled water sold on the market were contaminated and unsuitable for human consumption.
But Dairibord Zimbabwe, bottlers of the Aqualite brand, came out guns blazing against the report, stating that their water was safe for consumption and saying their distillation process was up to standard.
Further, we carry out tests on every batch to provide extra assurance to our customers,” Marimo said.
She also said the bottled water was certified by the Standard Association of Zimbabwe, a State organ responsible for quality assurance of all products originating in Zimbabwe.
“Aqualite is certified by Standards Association of Zimbabwe, who also carry out independent verification.
EMA has not engaged us as would have been expected for us to understand where the disparity in their tests is arising from,” Marimo said.
“We are available and willing to go through testing and verification with them.
Other distillers mentioned in the report were not immediately available for comment.
NewsDay Weekender is, however, reliably informed that the controversial report has caused panic within the market, with some retailers informing water bottlers to recall their products.